Lakowe Lakes Golf Classic jazzed up, winning purse raised

Nigeria’s most prestigious golf club, Lakowe Lakes Golf Club, Lagos, will host golfers to the ninth edition of its flagship event this weekend with new tweaks for the Pro-Am.

Speaking in Lagos, the golf manager of the facility, Femi Olagbenro, confirmed that for the first-time, the event will be played over three days for the golf professionals.

According to him, “The Lakowe Lakes Golf Classic is our flagship event, and we go all length to use it to advance the game. Being a Pro-Am, it is a strategic tool to galvanize different levels of social interaction represented in the game.

“So, expanding it to invite top professional players across the continent is our own way of raising the competitiveness of the event and increasing the number of events of this caliber on Nigeria’s golfing calendar.”

The prize purse of the professionals has also been raised to N10 million and they are billed to tee-off the event on Friday for a 54-hole contest that runs into October 2.

The Lakowe Lakes Academy Junior Golf Skill challenge for secondary schools in the vicinity is scheduled for the nine-hole par three course on Friday. The amateur players will join in the cue on Saturday with a round on the par three course also.

The Lakowe Lakes Golf Classic is part of the 18 different events under the second edition of ‘Escape to the Greens,’ an engagement and adoption project for non-golfing guests to the Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate and to showcase its lifestyle offering.

Onome Umukoro of Mixta Africa, the parent company for the golf facility, said ‘Escape to the Greens’ was borne out of necessity and was designed mostly to satiate the interest of guests that are associated with the weekend of golf at the estate.

“We designed the event to