BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
About 500 golf players are expected to participate in the Harmony Inaugural Cup, a Captains Inaugural Tournament of the IBB International Golf and Country Club in Abuja.
Chairman of the Captains Inaugural Tournament Committee, Abuja, Andrew Yakubu, at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, said the tournament would be held at the club’s a standard golf course with 18 holes covering over 100 hectares.
Yakubu, a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (now Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited), noted that the club, which was started in 1991, has over 5000 active members, making it “one of the largest golf clubs in the country and places us at the premier status of golf courses in Nigeria.”
He said, “We have two major event days – Friday and Saturday. On Friday, we are going to have the higher handicap men and ladies; they will have their tournament. It will be followed immediately with a cocktail that will introduce the main tournament of the lower handicap people, who are the more experienced players coming on Saturday.
“Every activity will attract a range of prizes and trophies that will be presented to those who did well. It is always an exciting period. Golfers look forward to this tournament – to these trophies and prizes – and they will be presented on the last day when we will be having the end-of-tournament dinner.”
Responding to questions from journalists, he said, “This course is a standard course and it is 18 holes. We are expecting about 500 players during this tournament.
Yakubu also faulted the perception of golf as an elitist game, stating that, “The game of golf is not necessarily an elitist game and that is why anytime we have a programme, we look for sponsors both within and outside the club. The whole idea is to remove this major barrier.”
He added, “So, most of the time, these tournaments try to open up a level playing field for participants. We also encourage…you don’t have to be the richest person to play this game. We promote amateurs, we promote professionals. We have professionals that don’t have the means of sponsoring themselves. Once you identify a talent, you support them. We have quite a number that we have done, either as a club or as individuals.
“I know that quite a number of us here have the privilege – once a talent is identified – to support them. Quite a number of them have gone to South Africa, some are right now in Zimbabwe; they were training to become professional golfers and that is an opportunity they have to launch them into both the local and international scene. Once they are spotted, the sky will never limit their progress.”
Yakubu noted, “For the children, in fact, in a week’s time, we will kick start what we call the Children’s Clinic. It normally comes every summer and in a week, the children will assemble and nobody takes record of who their parents are. We are sponsoring this one here. A few weeks ago, we did one in Kaduna…and all over the country to stimulate the interest of the younger ones in this game of golf and to remove that impression that it is an elitist game.”
The ex-GMD of NNPC recalled that the club held its Annual General Meeting in April where it elected a new leadership led by the Captain 2022, Michael Onoja Ekoja, who is the 25th captain of the club.
He said, “Traditionally, when the captain comes in, he has two major events in the middle of so many other activities that he drives during the year, starting with the Captains Inaugural Tournament. This is the tradition of the club. The captain has captioned it (the edition) ‘Harmony Tournament.’ This is the ceremonial aspect of kick-starting his tenure.”
