IBB International Golf and Country Club in Abuja has been designated to host the inaugural edition of the Ladies Professional Golf Association of Nigeria (LPGAN) come February 2018.
According to the coordinator of the tournament, Uloma Ubuko, who is one of Nigeria’s ladies professional, the tournament is aimed at championing the need to set up a platform that will cater for the needs of professional female golfers across the country.
The tournament is aimed to bring female golfers together as well as to identify talented young golfers and nurture them to stardom.
From 15 to 18 of February, 2018, professional and amateurs female golfers will gather in Abuja for the tournament in 72 holes stroke play.
In a statement put up by the organisers, it stated: “Everywhere in the world where there Professional Golfers Association, there is women association to cater for the needs of female professional. For example in South Africa, we have ‘Sunshine Tour’ for men and ‘Sunshine Tour’ for ladies, ‘European Tour’ for men and ‘Ladies European Tour’ for ladies. In America, we have ‘Professional Golfers Association’ (PGA) and ‘Ladies Professional Golfers Association’ (LPGA) for laides just to mention few.”
Continuing they said: “In Nigeria, we have ‘Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria (PGAN) for the men and no professional body or association for professional female golfers in Nigeria. Nigerian female professionals and amateurs who aspire to be professionals are forced to seek competitive platform abroad. For a Nigerian female golfer to become professional, she has to join the ladies associations abroad.”
“In view of the above, the urgent need for the establishment of ladies professional association to oversee the affairs of the ladies professional golfers in Nigeria and probably the entire West Africa region. The Ladies Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria (LPGAN) is a Nigerian sport organization and multinational association for ladies professional golfers. The association is in charge of all ladies professional affairs, needs and events in Nigeria. This will include promoting and organizing tournaments – Pro/AM, Tours, Qualifying School, support and promote lady professionals. For this reason, we humbly offer the service of establishing the association to ensure that our female golfers aspiring to become professionals are not frustrated and stagnated anymore,” they added.