By Bukolami Flora
IBADAN – Over 90 Professional golfers will compete for N10 million prize money at the maiden edition of the forthcoming Ibadan Mesiogo Golf Open scheduled to hold later in the year with other professional golfers.
This was dislosed by the initiator and chairman, Local Organising Committee of the tournament, Mr Olawale Opayinka at a press conference held at the Ibadan Golf Club (IGC).
He announced that the tournament will hold between 4th-8th October 2017 at the Ibadan Golf Club.
According to him, the opening ceremony will hold on October 4th at the Ibadan Golf Club while the professional golfers will take to the course on October 5 at the same venue while the University of Ibadan International Conference Centre on October 7 will hold the Ibadan Mesiogo award ceremony and gala night.(IMEGA).
The Mesiogo Open will also feature an Amateur Golf tournament on the 8th and it is open to all amateur golf players in the country with the 20 handicap for men and 28 handicap for women.
Opayinka said the tournament is not just about the game of golf but also about the celebration of Ibadan and its people; contributing to make the state great again; leveraging on the transformation agenda of oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
He comfirmed that the series will boost the exposure of the game of golf to people in Ibadan and Africa, saying “staging this Open in ibadan will help to put Ibadan back in the world-view.
“We must restore Ibadan as an economic hub and one of the way of doing that is using the game of golf. The game of golf attracts decision makers, captain of industries, high network individuals and local and international investors.
“Staging the IMEGA week in Ibadan will help to put Ibadan back in the world-view and bring these people to Ibadan to witness the progress that we have made and our readiness to be an economic hub again. This will ultimately be for the benefit of Ibadan people and by default the whole of Nigeria.
Also speaking at the conference, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogon stated the state Government is delighted in support of this tourney saying “this event will let the world see Oyo State as center for attraction as we believe in Public/Private pertnership idea”.
The series which double as a qualifier to the 3e Actuaries Open in Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea from the 13-16 December has seen past qualifiers played in Sao Paulo, Dubai, Harare, Cape Town and Los Angeles .
