Eghonghon Akpomon-Daniels has emerged champion of the 25th edition of the IBB Ladies Close Golf tournament in Abuja.
The tournament’s Silver Jubilee which began on Wednesday with the pre-tournament press briefing and ceremonial tee-off, ended at the weekend with the prize/award ceremony.
No fewer than 200 golfers took part in the 18-hole tourney played over two-days of intense golfing at the IBB International Golf and Country Club, Abuja.
Akpomon-Daniels returned an aggregate score of 132 net after posting a score of 67 and 65 on day 1 and day 2 respectively to emerge the overall winner of the tournament.
An elated Akpomon-Daniels told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that she was overwhelmed with joy and surprised that she emerged the winner of the tournament.
“I really feel hard to explain how I feel. I am excited and humble at this victory and I just want to say thank you to God Almighty.
“When I started this tournament, I just wanted to play as usual. I didn’t expect that I was going to win, but on the first day, I was on top of the leaderboard surprisingly.
“So, by the next day, the pressure was high because of the expectation from everyone, but to God be the glory, I was able to stay calm and play even better than I did on day one.
“This is so significant for me, winning the 25th championship of the IBB Ladies Close tournament, on the 25th of October and having just started playing golf in less than two years.
“It’s an honour to be holding this cup and I feel so privileged as people who have won this cup are great golfers and have been playing this game for about 10 to 20 years,” she said.
She attributed her success to the encouragement she got from her husband, adding that it was incidentally their 21st wedding anniversary as a couple.
Joy Ikwue with an aggregate score of 138 net and Folashade Olateju with 140 net finished as runner-up and first runner-up net in the Ladies division 1, 2, 3 Aggregate net category respectively.
Grace Ihonvbere, playing off handicap 13, with 84 gross and Grace Agbo, playing off handicap 3, with 76 gross won the best gross prizes for day 1 and day 2 respectively.
J. Christopher, playing off handicap 35 with 93 gross and 68 net, won the best net prize for day 1, while P. E. Izinyon, playing off handicap 32, with 95 gross, returned a net score of 63 to scoop the best net prize for day 2.
V. M. Sylvester, playing off handicap 48, emerged winner of the Ladies vetran’s category after she garnered 42 stable ford points, while Halima Wada, playing off handicap 32 with 41 stable ford points finished as the runner up in the category.
Former Lady Captain, Dorcas Akinkugbe, playing off handicap 52 amassed 38 stable ford points to settle for the 1st runner up prize in the category.
“I am so happy, I feel good and it shows that I am still fit and strong. At my old age, I can play 18 holes and still win in my category,” an elated Dorcas said.
In the Auxiliary prizes category, Agbo also took home the longest drive prizes for day 1 and 2 with a distance of 194 m and 210 m respectively.
The nearest to the pin prizes went to M. Atta-Bala (1.5 ft) and Y. Egwudale (6.7 ft) on day 1 and 2 respectively.
Dame Julie Donli, OON, the Lady Captain of IBB International Golf and Country Club finished as the 25th player on the tournament’s leaderboard.
Donli expressed her delight at hosting the Silver jubilee of the tournament as the lady captain of the club.
“I am really excited today as the 25th Captain of this great club celebrating the 25th edition of this championship. This can only happen once in a lifetime!
“So I feel so honoured, proud and privileged to have been that lady captain celebrating the silver jubilee of the Ladies Close Championship of IBB International Golf and Country Club,” she said.
Donli said she was very excited about the winner, adding that she would forever hold a special place in her heart.
She noted that the winner was relatively new and only started playing golf about 2 years ago, adding that it shows that it is possible to be a very good golfer within a very short period of time with determination and focus.
“This lady comes to play golf almost everyday with her husband. So, she has grown to be a good golfer and that’s what we say, ‘it’s just for you to pick up the interest and the rest will follow naturally’.
“So, we want to also encourage young girls to pick interest in the game. We saw alot of very young girls today winning prizes.
“That’s our goal. To encourage youngs girls and more ladies to play golf because golf is life and is good for your mental, physical and love health,” she said.
The lady captain used the opportunity to heap praise on her team for the wonderful support they have given her, adding that without their support she wouldn’t have been able to achieve much.
“My Ladies Golf Section Executive Committee members have worked so tirelessly with me and within a period of six months, we’ve achieved so much.
“My team members and I built a four-unit toilet and store at the practice range, which was indeed a big project that earned us the gold medal on the roll of honours boldly and clearly inscribed at the reception of the club.
“Our Thursday Ladies kitty has also taken another dimension. When we first started in April, we had just 80 participants playing, but that number has doubled now with no fewer than 160 to 175 participants playing in this kitty every Thursday.
“So, we radicalised it and made the kitty like a mini tournament and then we saw so many people coming out.
“You can also see what happened at the Ladies Close, we had over 120 men playing as guests, just to support us and over 80 Ladies playing in the championship.
“This is really a big deal and I am very grateful to the Ladies in the golf section and to my team members,” she said.
