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Oboh, Odoh set for Fancourt Golf Course’ challenge

By Christian Okpara
08 February 2019   |   4:15 am
Fresh from her encouraging display at the Serengeti Team Challenge, where she paired with South Africa’s Catherine Lau to finish in the fourth position...

Andrew Oche Odoh is one of the two Nigerian players in South Africa’s on-going Sunshine Tour.

Fresh from her encouraging display at the Serengeti Team Challenge, where she paired with South Africa’s Catherine Lau to finish in the fourth position, Nigeria’s teenage sensation, Georgia Oboh says she is ready for the Data Dimension Tournament at the tough Fancourt Golf Course, George. It is still part of the Ladies European Tour (LET) Sunshine Series, where the best women golfers converge to vie for honours.

The field is a 65-strong playing field that will feature former LPGA Tour champion, Lee-Anne Pace, Sunshine Ladies Tour winners, Ashleigh Buhai, Bertine (Strauss) Faber, Kim Williams, Monique Smit, Tandi Mc Callum and Nobuhle Dlamini from Swaziland, former LET winner, Laurette Maritz, as well as 21 international campaigners from 13 countries.

Speaking on her experience so far in the LET Sunshine Tour, Oboh told The Guardian, “I am so excited starting my first LET tournament in Africa, especially in South Africa. The weather is friendly and the golf course is superb with a lot of trees just like any course in Europe. I am looking forward to having an exciting time and hope for the best in my first LET tournament in 2019.”

Fancourt is at the heart of South Africa’s famed ‘garden route’, midway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

It’s a supremely beautiful stretch of coastline with a moderate climate and incredible array of flora and fauna.

The club has three courses, all designed by nine-time Major Champion, Gary Player.

The premier track is the Links, venue for the 2003 Presidents Cup and the 2012 Volvo Golf Champions event won by Branden Grace.

It’s an incredible design inspired by the great links tracks of Scotland and Ireland and is generally regarded as one of the very best courses in South Africa.

Also among the contestants at the Fancourt Course is another Nigerian, Andrew Odoh, who will compete in the men’s category.

Odoh, who is Nigeria’s number one ranked professional golfer, has been a regular feature in the Sunshine Tour for the past three years.

He sees the pressure associated with the game as a challenge for the Nigerian player, who most times fights against the odds to be in touch with his peers from more developed countries.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) before flying out for the Sunshine Tour that the pressure constantly keeps him on his toes.

“In golf we don’t get such luxury in this part of the world, it makes it even hard and puts more pressure on you because most times you have to travel from your own pocket”.

“The thing is of course everything comes with pressure for sure, it just depends on how you handle it at the end of the day.

“When you set your goals, you will actually need to push ranks for them, because you want to achieve it,” he said.

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