The Executive Vice President & Head of West Africa Region Goldfields, Alfred Baku, at a press briefing to herald the fourth edition of the Goldfields PGAGhana Championship said the increase in his outfit's total financial commitment is part of efforts to boost the profile of the competition on the African continent.
Title sponsors of the Professional Golfers Association of Ghana (PGAGhana) Championship, Goldfields Ghana Limited have announced a 40u percent increment in the total prize money to GH ₵140,000 for this year's championship, which will take place between November 29-December 2 at the Tarkwa Damang Golf Club.
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Mr Alfred Baku highlighted the reasons that prompted Goldfields came to to the aid of PGAGhana.
"Sports ministry knows very well we have something called the least finance sports and golf is one of them, and Ghanaians are not hearing from our golfers outside that is why we decided to come in to support our talented golfers, and since we came to their aid we have seen a huge turn around".
"The fact that golf don't have supporters like football and other sponsors supporting us, so we haven't actually given ourselves any set down time or years and we will continue to support them as long as we are around".
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Mr. Baku intimated that the overall winner of the competition will receive a cash prize of GH₵25,000 in addition to a trophy.
He also stated that for the first time, there will be competitive contests for the seniors (golfers aged above 50years) with a GH₵15,000 cash prize at stake while the caddies will battle it out for the chance to win a full set of golf clubs.
In a related development, President of the PGAGhana, Anthony Kwame Mintah says the tournament is expected to bring together the best golfers on the African continent from countries including Togo, Cote D'Ivoire, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and SouthAfrica.
He, however, added that his main objective is to bring the golf to the scratch.
"Golf is a game we always think is for rich people because the equipment is quiet expensive, so what we want to do now is to open up the game and let our professionals go to the schools, if we say we will sit at the golf grounds only kids in luxury cars will come to learn the game, so we are now in talk with Head Masters and P.E. Teachers in various schools for green light to send our professionals to schools during P. E. time to take the kids trough the bases both the JHS and SHS level".
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He promised an exciting championship and he's hopeful that this year’s championship will be retained by a Ghanaian golfer.
