Friday, October 06, 2006
Nigeria Cup of Waste
King Sunny Ade is a golfer. At the finals of the 10th Nigeria Cup golf tournament, he was the star of the presentation night. No not for his golfing skills, but for the entertaining golfers from the night of the finals till the following day. And that was what he was paid to do.
Clearly now at the end of the one week golf show, KSA registered in the memory of the every attendee of the final event than the guy that lifted the community shield for the Nigerian cup 2006. It was not an accidental. That is the way the organizing committees of the recent Nigerian Cup golf event has shaped the event to be remembered.
In an event that has the backing of 63 corporate sponsors and individuals the huge resources that went in the way corporate responsibility can better be imagined.
Maybe ‘for the good of the game’ as the United States Golf Association, USGA usually punctuates it programmes, the Nigerian Cup organizers have continues to cut down on the involvement of the professionals in the event. The claim is that the event in the first place is an amateur event and the professional are better invited.
Golf as in most sports ride on the crest of the developments of the professionals. The volume of golf played in Asia is soon catching up with what obtains in America but that would not take the Unites States away as the world’s number one golfing nation. Why? Because the US professionals are still 60% of the world top ten, as it has always been.
For the quantity of golf played, it is the amateur that would determine that but for the quality of golf played the professionals worldwide has always hold the key to that. That is why the attention to developing professional golf is never a matter of compromise, whatever their weaknesses are because the impact tells collectively on the game. American have taken to the game of golf more because they have the best golfers in the world than that they have the most of golfing facilities. This facts holds sway for all sports and for all countries.
However the organizers, came down from offering one million naira (about $8,000) in prize money in 2005 for the best 30 players to half of that in 2006. And the contestants are selected. It is not clear how the respected Jamiu Oyebajo of the Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria and his team compromised to that.
Given the grandness of the presentation night that featured the KSA (once a Grammy nominee) that doesn’t appear for nothing less than $8,000 within the country. The Nigeria cup budget must have expended close to 65% (if not more) for the show.
And seated in the crowd are the supposed eggheads of the Nigerian golf community who had come to be recognized and sit on the ‘high’ table for the occasion of waste.
Clearly now at the end of the one week golf show, KSA registered in the memory of the every attendee of the final event than the guy that lifted the community shield for the Nigerian cup 2006. It was not an accidental. That is the way the organizing committees of the recent Nigerian Cup golf event has shaped the event to be remembered.
In an event that has the backing of 63 corporate sponsors and individuals the huge resources that went in the way corporate responsibility can better be imagined.
Maybe ‘for the good of the game’ as the United States Golf Association, USGA usually punctuates it programmes, the Nigerian Cup organizers have continues to cut down on the involvement of the professionals in the event. The claim is that the event in the first place is an amateur event and the professional are better invited.
Golf as in most sports ride on the crest of the developments of the professionals. The volume of golf played in Asia is soon catching up with what obtains in America but that would not take the Unites States away as the world’s number one golfing nation. Why? Because the US professionals are still 60% of the world top ten, as it has always been.
For the quantity of golf played, it is the amateur that would determine that but for the quality of golf played the professionals worldwide has always hold the key to that. That is why the attention to developing professional golf is never a matter of compromise, whatever their weaknesses are because the impact tells collectively on the game. American have taken to the game of golf more because they have the best golfers in the world than that they have the most of golfing facilities. This facts holds sway for all sports and for all countries.
However the organizers, came down from offering one million naira (about $8,000) in prize money in 2005 for the best 30 players to half of that in 2006. And the contestants are selected. It is not clear how the respected Jamiu Oyebajo of the Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria and his team compromised to that.
Given the grandness of the presentation night that featured the KSA (once a Grammy nominee) that doesn’t appear for nothing less than $8,000 within the country. The Nigeria cup budget must have expended close to 65% (if not more) for the show.
And seated in the crowd are the supposed eggheads of the Nigerian golf community who had come to be recognized and sit on the ‘high’ table for the occasion of waste.
