Sixteen-year-old Segun Ibironke of Pathfinder College on Saturday, emerged the winner of the maiden U-17 Oyo State Junior Golf Clinic at the Ibadan Golf Club.
The son of Oladiran Ibironke, who is Chief Executive Officer of Dudu Heritage Films, he won by 96 gross.
The young golder said that he didn’t have a good start and that at a point, he almost gave up on winning the tournament.
He, however, said that somehow, he started playing better and eventually won.
“I feel great winning this tournament, because I came from behind to win.
“My long time goal is to be one of the best golfers in Nigeria and I have been playing golf for four years now.
“Honestly, I see this win as a challenge to get better in golf and to keep striving to be the best,” he said.
Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde, who witnessed the closing tournament of the weeklong golf clinic, said he was glad to be part of the event.
Makinde urged all the participants to keep up the sporting spirit, adding that they were all winners.
“Sports development is a way by which we can engage the youths in Oyo State and that’s why the government is doing everything possible to ensure that our sporting facilities are upgraded to attract talents to those facilities.
“As we can see the return on investments on sports, our athletes at the just concluded National Sports Festival clinched 31 gold, 30 silver and 43 bronze medals.
“I saw that it was in swimming majorly that we had more gold medals and I called the contractor handling the Lekan Salami Stadium to hasten up and give us an Olympic sized swimming pool.
“At the next National Sports Festival, Oyo state will compete favourably in swimming.
“Yes, we’ve made some improvements; we performed better at the just concluded festival compared to the previous one.
“Our target in the next edition is a minimum of 100 gold medals and I know this will still happen during this administration,” he said.
According to Makinde, it is wrong to assume that golf is a game for the elites, especially now that it is now obvious that talents exist everywhere.
“We want to attract talents from even those who can’t afford golfing equipment. We must get a programme that will give them that opportunity.
“This clinic is good. I’ll like to say that it will be an annual tournament and I look forward to seeing you all next year.
“I want 30 per cent of the subsequent editions to be reserved for disadvantaged children and we will ensure that the slot is filled, even if it is to buy them the golfing kits,” he said.
Ninety-six kids participated in the week long clinic, with students from Vale College, Methodist High School, Concord School, Ibadan International School and America Christian Academy in attendance.
NAN
