44th Ikoyi Ladies golf open tees off

This year’s edition of the Ikoyi Ladies Golf Championship will tee off today and round off on Friday. It has been upgraded to a World Amateur Ranking event.

More than 200 players have signed up to jostle for the title, which already is the most coveted title among amateur lady players with entries already coming from other African countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Ghana.

Captain of the Ladies section of the Club, Candy Agu, said that the event promises to be an epic one.  The new partnership with the World Amateur Golf Ranking body WAGR, (an arm of the R&A), which together with the USGA regulates the game of golf worldwide, has further raised the profile of the event.

According to her, “The new status of the event also means that some technicalities of the event have to be adjusted, including making it a three – day event instead of the two-day it was in the past.

“I believe that this presents a brilliant opportunity for our budding Nigerian players to rub shoulders with more experienced amateur players who are now showing more interest in the event because of its global rating and World Ranking points.

“We have a number of international players who now see our championship as an opportunity to play the course (Ikoyi Club), and also tour Nigeria. It is interesting the level of mileage that is available for corporates and different industries in the country through this.”

The event will be rounded off with a closing and award dinner on Friday, the winner of the event being the player with the best gross score over 54 holes.