Ikeja Golf Club agog as Eclectic Championship begins

The much-awaited Eclectic Amateur Team Championship will formally tee off today at the Ikeja Golf Club, Lagos, with over a 110 golfers from across the country and its West African neighbours vying for honours.

The players were expected to start arriving the venue, yesterday, for registration and a cocktail to usher in the Championship, which will end tomorrow.

On offer for winners are all-expense paid foreign and local travels to Kigali, Rwanda; Benin Republic and Lagos, Nigeria.

While the first place winner will get a ticket to Kigali, Rwanda, the second placed player is also guaranteed an all-expense paid accommodation in the Republic of Benin, while the third place winner will enjoy same luxury in Nigeria at the Golf View Hotel, Lagos. There will also be many other prizes.

“It is not surprising that more teams are now scrambling to register and complete all other formalities; what the organisers are offering to winners are good enough to arouse interest for participation and curiosities on what needs to be done before the deadline.

“In today’s Nigeria, every sportsman or sportswoman is looking for opportunity to expose him/herself and this eclectic championship is offering that opportunity to Kigali, Rwanda and other interesting places in West Africa and in Nigeria,” a golfer said.

The GUARDIAN reported that the Eclectic Championship is a game with special scoring format that allows a player to improve on his/her performance in a multiple round on the course of competition.

On what the championship is bringing into the game of golf, Abel Edinomo, a co-founder and secretary general of West Africa Amateur Golf Association (WAAGA) and one-time Technical Director of the Nigeria Golf Federation (NGF), said it is another way of diversifying the game of golf for more corporate presence and pleasure of golfers.

He added: “We are baptising eclectic event as a championship for the first time in Nigeria and West Africa. We have enough of medals event, let us up the game to something that will make golf more exciting for the amateur players.”

Edinomo assured that all logistics to ensure a successful event have been put in place by organizers.

He reiterated that corporate bodies and individuals would have to take advantage of the event to expand their reach, adding, “they will interact and socialise to expand their business network, which is one of the many opportunities that the game of golf provides.”

According to the organisers, the event, holding under the auspices of The Spirit Golf International, will be registered to get the blessings of world golf governing body, Royal and Ancient (R&A) of St Andrews, Scotland, as a sub-regional event that promotes golf development.