Organisers pick date for 17th CMCL Open

The 17th CMCL Open Golf Championship will hold from May 18 to 24 at the Smokin Hills Golf Resort, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, the organisers have revealed.

The tournament, which changed from its usual IBB Golf and Country Club venue to the Smokin Hills this year, is one of the activities put in place to mark the birthday of CMCL Golf Tours Limited Chairman, Olusola Adekanola.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of CMCL Golf Tours Limited, Frank Igbene, the decision to move the competition, which is already generating excitement across the country, to Smokin Hills was to give golfers a taste of what of the atmosphere on a world class course.

He added that CMCL Open Golf Championship, which is the oldest national professional and amateur tourney, is the first championship event to take place at Smokin Hills.

SMOKIN Hills Golf Resorts is a world class golf course owned by Chief Michael Ade Ojo, who is the Chairman of Toyota Nigeria Ltd and founder of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin.

It is also on record that the annual CMCL Open golf Championship had been played in other golf courses around the country, including Benin Golf Course, Ilorin Golf Course, Shagamu Golf Course and severally at IBB International Golf and Country Club, Abuja.

“In the programme of the 17th edition of the championship, touring professional golfers will take to the course from May 19 to 22. They will vie for the price money, while the invited amateurs will have their turns on the course on May 22, which is for the practice round before the two-day amateur championship on May 23 and 24.”

Expected to feature at the event are golfers drawn from across the country, including those from Benin, Ikoyi, Ikeja, Lakowe, Kano, Ilorin, Port Harcourt, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ada, Asaba, Kaduna, Warri and Abuja, who have signified their intention to be part of the week-long competition.

Former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former Captain of Ikoyi Club, Ayinde Sanni, past Captain IBB, Dare Bello, Okey Igwe, Winston Strassa, Bayo Alli, Sumanth, Seyi Siwoku (Jungle), Dafe Sejobor, Ahmed Suleman, Dipo Sanya, Sam Anyamele and Kingsley Okunbor are a few of the notable players expected to be part of the 2015 CMCL Open.