Guardian

WITH two Ghanaians occupying the first two places on the Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria (PGAN) Order of Merit, a stiff contest is expected among high-ranking Nigerian golfers for the two tickets to this year’s Omega Mission Hills World Cup of Golf qualifiers in the next two ranking tournament: the CMCL Open and the Memorial Championship.

The International Federation of PGA Tours, an organisation of the top professional golf tours in the world, which sanctions the World Golf Championships and the World Cup of Golf, in conjunction with the State of Victoria and the International Golf Association, had announced that the 2013 World Cup of Golf will return to The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It will hold from November 21 to 24.

According to the Order of Merit released by PGAN for May, James Bulus and Olapade S. are in contention for the tickets as they are both placed third and fourth in that order, having pocketed N1. 625m and N1. 263m so far.

Hot on their heels are Gift Willy, Martin Odoh and Oche Odoh, who are placed fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

With the presence of the two Ghanaians at the zenith of the ranking, the best placed Nigerians on the log in the half year ranking, will fly Nigeria’s flag at the qualifiers in Australia. With this development, the battle for the two tickets will be fiercest between Bulus, Olopade, Willy and the Odoh brothers-Martin and Oche, as the difference between all of them is a few hundred thousand naira.

And given their strength of character and big game temperament, Willy and Oche, appear to be inching close to the tickets even though they have the CMCL Open and The Memorial Championship to prove this.

Odoh and Rivers State-based Mike Ubi qualified for the last qualifiers, which took place in Malaysia in 2011. Visa processing delays, however, denied them the chance to participate.

“The World Cup of Golf is one of the tournaments every professional golfer looks forward to playing in. I have never played there, so naturally, I am itching to do so. However, having missed some tournaments on the local tour, I have to strive to gather enough points to play in the qualifiers before thinking of the World Cup proper,” Willy told The Guardian yesterday

Commenting on next week’s CMCL Open, tournament’s defending champion, Lateef Lasisi said “having played in Abuja regularly over the past ten years, I have good knowledge of the course. That knowledge, added to the fact that I am the tournament’s defending champion, will be the force that will propel me to excel in Abuja next week.

Abuja-based players like Gboyega Oyebanji, Edet Umoh and Ikoyi Club-based pro, Bashiru Bakare are some of those, who are capable of springing surprises at the 15th edition of the tourney, which holds from May 28 to June 2nd 2013.

While the 72-hole pros event ends on Friday, May 31, amateur players drawn from across the country would round theirs up on Sunday, June 2nd.

Chief Executive Officer of CMCL Golf Tours Limited, Frank Igbene, while speaking ahead of the tourney said necessary arrangements have been put in place to make the event a success.