Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau state said that his administration would continue to support golf until the state becomes home of golf in Nigeria.
Lalong, who stated this during the tee-off ceremony of the fourth edition of Governor’s Cup at the Lamingo Golf Club on Tuesday, added that his administration was focusing on golf because of the priority he has given to tourism.
“this is the fourth edition of Governor’s Cup and when we started it was brown and I then promised that it would be green, now we have not only green in Rayfield, but in Lamingo golf pitch and official green in Government House.
“Now we have started another green in Rayfield and very soon by the time we finished all these (preparations), Plateau would be the home of Golf in Nigeria.
“If you are talking about tourism, you are talking about golf, and as you can see when we came in (2015) there was crisis, and we started the competition and now people have forgotten there ever been crisis in Jos.”
The governor encouraged people to stop seeing golf as the game of elites.
“Golf is not the game of elites, a lot of people are now playing golf, I said the same before I started playing golf, my presumption was it was a game of elites or retired soldiers,” but the game keeps one alive and healthy and you can play golf even up to the age of 80, I encourage people to start playing golf because health is wealth,” he said.
Meanwhile, about 200 professional golfers in category one are currently participating in the fourth edition of Governor’s Cup holding at Lamingo Golf Club in Jos South Local Government Area of the Plateau state.
Daily Trust gathered that the seven-day event started on Monday, and will end on 9th December, 2018, would be graced by professional golfers like Sunday Olapade, Andrew Oche Odor and Sunday Odegha.
Speaking during the tee-off ceremony, the Captain of Lamingo Golf Club, Mr Tang Dapoet said the 200 professional golfers across the country, including international golfers that played in the Ghana tournament recently would feature in the Lamingo event.
“We have about 200 professional golfers, so you would agree with me there is huge improvement from the previous competition on category one.
“Golfers are from all over the country and at the end of the competition we want Plateau to be a site attraction for not only golfers but tourists all over the world,” he said.
