Years of title drought came to an end at the weekend for Port Harcourt-based Gift Willy, who put Nigeria on the podium after emerging winner at the 2019 Cameroun Golf Open.
Despite competing alongside Oche Odoh with both players going head-to-head in the play-off, Willy carted home the star prize of the tournament.
Willy was atop of the leader board for the first two round after carding a 70 and ,71 respectively but failed to hold grip after carding a 3 over 75 in the third round and sits at third place going into the final round, which had Odoh sitting at first place on the leader board after 54 holes and having a two-shot lead over Willy. Cameroonian Priestly Nji was second going into the final round had a one-shot lead over Willy.
But a dramatic comeback by Willy rolled in when the Nigerian forced a playoff over his compatriot Odoh and later secured a win after a five-hole sudden-death play-off. Cameroonian Priestly Nji settled for the third position.
With this win, Willy and Sunday Olapade who also claimed his first title in 2019 in Ghana at the weekend will be fired up for the Port Harcourt Classics. “Winning the tournament in Ghana meant a lot to me because I have been seeking a win since the beginning of the season but it all seemed futile I was only coming close but this time when I got the opportunity I said to myself come on boy you got to maximize the opportunity,” a confident Olapade said.
Aside Willy and Olapade, other top foreign players expected in Port Harcourt include Ghana’s duo of Emos koblarh and Vincent Togarh; Cameroun’s Priestly Nji and Zimbabwe’s Visitor MAPWANYA competing against homeboys like Mike Ubi, Udom Saater, and Solomon Ideriah.
The Port Harcourt Classics is one of the African Tour tournaments tees off on Wednesday 15 to 18 at the Port Harcourt Golf Club in Rivers State.
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