Lack of funds may derail Oche Odoh’s European Tour ambitions

Nigeria’s Oche Odoh may lose the opportunity to fly the country’s flag on the European Tour this year unless he secures the funding needed to participate in the Tour under the new COVID-19 arrangement.

The Tour now requires each of the players and their caddy to be accommodated in the Tour Bubble throughout the duration of the event, with the participating player responsible for the cost.

These COVID Tour Bubble model has shot up the cost implications for each player by almost 300 per cent, and now stands between every player’s qualification and their dream.

Odoh, who last week, shot himself within a rare entry into one of the world’s biggest Golf Tours, says his dream now hangs in the balance because of the enormous cost involved.

“I am in a very great shape and qualified for the European Tour with only three events even when I needed to play 10. That tells how sharp my game is, but all that is becoming difficult, when the cost of the two events comes into play,” Odoh said at the weekend.

Odoh has taken his campaign to save his qualification to friends and well meaning golfers to chip in financial aid in support of his plan to feature at the key event coming up in few days time. The cost is currently put at about $7, 000 for the two events.

The star, who has been one of Nigeria’s most consistent top three players for close to two decades, being ranked topmost in almost a decade, said he would need support if Nigeria’s flag must be hoisted later this month in Kenya.

The two events, the Magical Kenya Open and Kenya Savannah Classic, will run back to back on the third and fourth weeks of March 2021 at the Karen Country Club in Nairobi. It will give Nigeria a rare window to get a player into the second most lucrative Tour and also get world-ranking points.

Already, Tour players and mentors have started lending support to the cause. Some of them include Femi Olagbenro, a pro and the golf manager at Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate, Dominic Andrew and Gboyega Oyebanji, colleagues at IBB Golf and Country Club, Abuja and former top ranked players of the country.