31 years after, Oturkpo Club’s top shot eyes U.S scene

Emos Korblah is the only player among his peers in the Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria (PGAN) still making appreciable mark in the game 31 years after joining the paid ranks.

But it is ironical that such a shining light, who turned professional in 1987, is yet to establish a project from his financial earnings, which include a startling N28.5 million from wins in the last five years.

Now in his 50s, Korblah, a Ghanaian and also a member of the Oturkpo Golf Club in Benue State, has proven that age is just a number in the game of golf; he has lifted a trophy in the 2018 season at the recently concluded N5 million purse Radix Masters Classic at Ikoyi, Lagos.

Golf is a sport believed to be for the rich and difficult to make a breakthrough in climes as Nigeria, but in a space of five years, (between 2012 and 2017), Korblah’s staggering N28.5 million prize money justifies the impression that golf is a prosperous sport.

This is even more astonishing as he did not participate in most of the events held in 2016 and 2017.

In the 2012 season, Korblah garnered N12 million; 2013, N5.8 million; 2014, N6 million; 2015, N2.7 million; 2016, N0.6 million and 2017, N0.9 million.
The figure no doubt is quite encouraging for those still struggling to find their bearing in the sport and prospective golfers at the grassroots levels.

Now in the twilight of his career, Korblah, who left Nigeria for Ghana on Tuesday, revealed that he has decided to establish a golf academy in his native Ghana.

Appreciating the financial implication of a golf project, he said, “I am considering establishing a golf academy in Ghana, but it will start by next year (2019).

“Golf is a game that has made me what I am today and I feel I can only appreciate that fact by establishing an academy to raise future stars; it is all about giving back to the society that made me.”

Korblah, who participated at the last edition of the British Open Senior Tour competition, still seemed not tired as he concluded that he wants to change his base from Nigeria to the United States.

“My next plan in golf is to go to the US and be playing,” while urging people to take interest in golf without bias for age.