The 3e Actuaries Equatorial Guinea Open Golf Championship has grown in leaps and bounds since the tournament began four years ago in Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea. Olawale Opayinka, the brain-behind the tournament settled for the ancient city of Ibadan, southwest region of Nigeria as one of the host cities for the qualifiers of the African prestigious championship, having attracted some of the best golfers in the world. Apart from increasing the prize money to $250,000 this year, more professional golfers around the globe, will be gracing the competition come December 11 to 17, Opayinka told OLALEKAN OKUSAN that with the inclusion of Ibadan as one of the host cities for the qualifiers, the aim was to harness the potentials in Nigerian golf scene.
Dubbed the Mongomo Cup, the annual 3e Actuaries Equatorial Guinea Open Golf Championship has elevated Africa onto the global golf map with top players willing to compete at the tournament. Nigerian golfers had always been part of the tournament and Opayinka who had directed the affairs of the championship, believes the enormous latent potentials within Nigeria, the hosting of the qualifiers in Nigeria is one of the change required to fast-track the growth and development of golf.
However, the Oyo State-born businessman is not too happy with the lopsided nature of golf in Nigeria.
“I don’t think we have fully achieved the potential in Nigerian golf because the organisation of the sport in Nigeria is currently lopsided. The tail is the head and head is the tail. For golf to survive and thrive, professionally it has to be promoted in Nigeria and professional golf needs to have its proper place.”
“What we have in Nigeria is bizarre because the sport has been hijacked by the elite who are mostly amateur players and when they organise tournaments, it is all about the elite getting together to do their own thing at that level. Most times, they put a token out for the professional golfers which I think is very wrong in its entirety. This has indeed stagnated golf in Nigeria.
“It is professional golfers that are your role models that will inspire the youths. We have the resources to do it because we have more than 40 courses in Nigeria. At least 10 of them are of world standard and they are scattered across the country. They are courses with the right infrastructure. Also, we have the professional golfers but we are not putting enough resources and this is affecting the development of the game because if we have strong professional players, the government at all levels will notice and invest in it to inspire young people in the sport just like they are doing for football. The sport needs that visibility to draw in businesses to sponsor and drive big events, just like we are trying to do and this will attract players across the globe. It will also help to reposition the sport.”
On the enormous potential in Nigeria, Opayinka said: “We have the potential to develop golf in Nigeria because we have multi-million businesses. KPMG spent a lot of money sponsoring golf tournaments in UK and US and Phil Mikelson is sponsored by KPMG and they are also in Nigeria. Apart from KPMG, we have companies like BMW, Mobil and Total among others, spending big money on golf across the globe and they are all in Nigeria. So we have the organisations here that are used to spending big money on golf tournaments. It is just that the tournaments in Nigeria are not organised in a way that allows these brands to associate with the talents in Nigeria.”
On way the forward, he said: “Change is not what you say, it is what you do. Change has already come to golf in Nigeria and with our tournament staged in Ibadan this year, we have attracted 100 professional golfers from 18 countries including some of the best players from Europe and Nigeria’s teenage golf sensation, Georgia Oboh was able to compete with them. We had put in the infrastructure required to make the change and now we have in a neighbouring Equatorial Guinea the biggest golf tournament in Africa outside the European Tour. Our tournament has come to stay and we will be doubling the prize money to N20million next year in Nigeria, which we believe will attract some of the best players. After organising this event, other companies will now see the light on how we have made golf a force to reckon with by empowering women, as well as organise awards for sportsmen and women in Oyo State. We have also put golf in a position where it will now show leadership, where for the next two years, there will be exponential growth in golf in Nigeria. With what we are doing, when people start seeing the success and prominent we are giving to the sport, others will surely follow. We intend to stage the tournament in couple of years to come, and Ibadan will now become of the cities alongside Sao Paolo, Dubai, Johannesburg and Harare, which will host the qualifiers for the Mongomo Cup. With this, we have taken a leap in golf. We are also looking at the future for young people who wish to play because they want to emulate the Georgia Obohs, Andrew Ochei and Gift Willy. For someone like Georgia Oboh, what we are doing is to put her alongside the best players in Europe at Mongomo Cup and she does not have to beg them to play with them. They are now coming to our tournament and we will let them understand that this is our tournament and she also has to be invited to their own ournaments as well. The head of Sunshine Ladies Tour is coming to Mongomo this year and they will see Georgia Oboh. This will showcase what she has to offer and they will also invite her to their tournaments. This year, we are going to make Georgia Oboh a shining light like the vice captain or the Ladies Host for the tournament this year. We believe with this kind of thinking, we can then bring in young players to compete alongside the professionals, particularly the foreigners.”
For the Mongomo Cup this year, apart from the improved purse, Opayinka, who spear-headed 3E Actuaries Equatorial Guinea Open, envisioned the continent as one big village and is passionate about inspiring the future, says more than 100 players from 34 countries are expected this year.
“We have been growing the tournament every year because last year we had over 67 professional golfers from 30 countries, now this year we are attracting more than 100 professional golfers from 34 nations. Also the best female golfers in the world both in the Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA) and Ladies European Tour (LET) are coming this year, while the best golfers from in Africa from the Sunshine Tour will also be part of it this year.”
“Now we are in a position that we have five qualifiers across the globe and what is unique about this year is that we are growing and we have doubled the prize money from last year to $250,000 this year. So we have become the biggest golf tournament in Africa that is not European Tour event.” The par-72 Presidential Golf Course, host venue of the Mongomo Cup, is one of three golf courses in Equatorial Guinea and it’s definitely a case of ‘quality rather than quantity’ as this is a track of top-class international standard. Beautifully manicured greens and highly playable, rolling fairways make this Ritson Golf Design course a joy to play for golfers of all abilities, while a standout feature sees half of it is set within the Equatorial Forest, creating a truly unique golfing experience.