The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, Youth and Sports Minister Isaac Asiamah and former Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Peter Amewu are among a host of dignitaries expected to grace the 2018 edition of the Goldfields PGA tour.
This was revealed by the Executive Vice President and Head of Goldfields West Africa, Alfred Baku at a press conference held at the headquarters of Goldfields Ghana to launch the 4-day tournament slated for Wednesday, November 28 to December 1, 2018 in Damang.
Alfred Baku highlighted the investment made by the mining firm into the competition since it began sponsorship of the competition five years ago. He said that the continuous increment in prize monies is an indication of Goldfield’s unwavering commitment to the event and to a large extent the development of golf in the country.
“We deem it appropriate to support golf but that is the only sports that the people around our catchment area (Tarkwa and Damang) can also use to get happy. If you look at over the years, we’ve actually moved quite nicely. Year one total prize money was GHC60, 000, year two we increased it to GHC124, 000, year three and this year as you’ve heard it is GHC135, 000. If you look at the winners year one was GHC15,000, year two increased to GHC25,000, year three in that order and this year is as you heard from the President of the PGA, this year is GHC35,000”.
Making a case for the competitiveness of the tournament, Baako said “If you look at the winners it’s not one-sided. We had Vincent Torgah winning year one, Amos winning year 2, year 3 Vincent Torgah came again and year 4 Kojo Barnni who is our own pro. What I like about this tournament is looking at the scores, year total scores was 12under, year 2 we had 2under, year 3 we had 7under and then year 4 6under. What I like about year 4 is where it went into a sudden death where Torgah and Kojo had to battle for the prize money. I heard it was quite keen and Kojo won it”, he concluded.
The President of the Professional Golfers Association, Tony Mintah stated he is anticipating an exciting and keenly contested tournament. He announced that this year’s edition will feature professional golfers from across the Sub-region and South Africa.
“This is the fifth year the PGA being sponsored by Goldfields and it also coincides with the 25 years of Goldfields being in Ghana so everything is culminating into an exciting tournament and we are looking forward to what promises to be the biggest tournament that Ghana has seen. The first prize is a whopping GHC35, 000 this year, he remarked.
The 2018 Goldfields PGA golf tour which coincides with the 25th-anniversary celebrations of Goldfields Ghana is expected to be the biggest ever golf competition in the country with over 70 golfers expected to battle it out for the giant trophy and GHC35, 000 at stake.
Kojo Barnni of Goldfields Ghana won the 2017 edition after defeating Vincent Torgah on sudden death. The two are expected to go head-to-head when the tournament tees off on November 28 in Damang.
