CMCL’s Winner-Takes-All tournament will ensure focus, decent play, says Adekanola

Port Harcourt Club also grabs Hero’s deal

CMCL Chairman, Otunba Olusola Adekanola, has assured that the Winner Takes All tournament scheduled for the Port Harcourt Club 1928 Golf Section from September 9 to 13 will push the players to give the game their best, thereby ensuring decent play by majority of the stars over four rounds.

Adekanola said he prefers the unusual sole winner format, as it would also attract more attention to the game.

The Port Harcourt Club 1928 Golf Section recently announced that it has secured a major professional golf deal from CMCL, which is reputed to be one of Nigeria’s biggest financiers of professional tournaments.

The deal is coming two months after it successfully staged the third leg of the 72-hole West Africa Golf Tour.

Captain of the club, Emmanuel Okene, revealed that apart from the CMCL Winners Takes All tournament, there would also be a two-day invitational for amateur golfers, with the course partially closed for each day of the event.

The CMCL Winners Takes All is a reward system that hands the entire professional prize money to the overall winner of the event rather than splitting the purse on basis of the number of players on the Order of Merit cut list.

Unlike the flagship CMCL Open, which has been a national staple for close to 20 years, the CMCL Winners Takes All has only been held on three occasions.

Francis Ugbong won the maiden edition in Ilorin in 2000, while the cerebral Raphael Iyonagbe, who dominated the Nigerian professional golf scene in the early in 2000s, won the remaining two editions in Benin and Air Assault.

Meanwhile, the Port Harcourt Club has also secured a one-year partnership package with Pabod Breweries to brand Hole 8 (Creek) and organise the newly created Hero Monthly Medal in addition to a Golf Day tournament for amateurs yearly.

The agreement, consummated early this month, will see the brewers provide branded Monthly Mugs, caddy uniforms, scorecards, flags, consolation prizes (longest drive and nearest to the pin), picture frame of the champion for display at the club house and a hearty social evening at the club.