DR Tony Philmoore:The Pillar of PGAN

 DR Tony Philmoore 

The game of golf is a very lucrative sport that most professional golfers abroad have turned into a goldmine., especially in the western society.

Whereas in Nigeria,the sport was very active among the amateur golfers who  occasionally organized amateur opens and earmarked a paltry sums  for the pros to compete for as prize money.

In fact, the Situation with  Nigeria professional golfers became so bad that they would hardly play any major open golf championship that would enable them earn a decent income from the swing sport

Interestingly, the country is blessed with lots of young talented golfers that if given the needed support would bring international honour to the nation through the game of golf 

Sadly though lack of adequate sponsorship kept the sport in the doldrums and killed the aspirations of young pros with the dream of becoming the next Tigerwoods 

However, while their foreign counterparts in the western world were busy  competing in the PGA tours , week in and week out and smiling to the bank  to cart away huge prize money to keep life going , Nigeria pros on the other hand  were wasting away  and languishing in obscurity owing to lack of major tournaments which made life very difficult for them

DR Philmoore in action on the golf course

Luckily for them, succour came  the way of the   nation's professional golfers when a two time executive chairman of Degema local government area in Rivers state DR Tony Philmoore  decided to revolutionize the game of golf by taking the bull  by horn to organize major tournaments for the professional golfers in the country with huge prize money .

This particular gesture revived the sport from the state of comatose and gave  Nigeria Professional golfers the opportunity and platform to  start earning  substantial and tangible income  from the game of golf as tantamount in developed  climes.

In appreciation and acknowledgement of his love and  support for the sport , DR Tony Philmoore who is also a seasoned professional golfer in the country was appointed as the life vice president of the Professional golfers Association of Nigeria by the organization in  Porthacourt.

This no doubt propelled him to redouble his efforts in the search for more sponsorship of  tournament for the PGAN , using his visionary leadership to pilot the affairs of the pros to greater heights, as he raised the sum of three hundred million  naira with the support of his friends and corporate entries for the  pros to play regular tournaments and established the Naija tour and subsequently was elected as the executive director of the PGAN.

The Naija tour became the lifeline for the pros in the country as they were now traveling round the six geo-political zone on a monthly basis to compete for huge prize money which was lacking in the past

With DR Tony Philmoore blazing the trail in funding the sport in the country, other multinationals and corporate individuals identified with the professional golfers association of Nigeria by forming alliance with the one time Commissioner in the Rivers state service commission to sponsor more opens for the pros  which kept the sport on stream and also help the pros to improved on their rankings on the global stage

Moreso, driven by the desire to ensure the game of golf attains its pinnacle in Nigeria, the seasoned  politician cum golf administrator DR  Tony Philmoore selected some notable personalities and dignitaries within the golf fraternity  as life vice presidents with the task of raising funds for the PGAN to play regular tournaments.

To buttress this fact , the PGAN calendar is filled with lots of tournaments in the Mber months  as professional golfers within and outside the shores of Nigeria will storm Lagos state on the 26th of September to compete for the prize money of 32million naira at the Lakowe lakes pro-am golf tournament otherwise called  the Emerald invitational tourney

Subsequently, the pros will converge  at the Illorin golf club on the 30th of October to participate in the second edition of ICMA open golf championship worth the sum of 15million naira  and thereafter depart for  the  Python international golf club in Porthacourt to compete in the CIO open golf championship sponsored by Chief Ikenna Okafor , where they will play for the prize money of  fifty thousand dollars 

This will be followed by the Honourable Gbenga Onigbogi tournament where the sum of  twenty million naira has been earmarked as prize money for the pros at the University of illesha golf course.

Indeed, these dividends and benefits the Pros are enjoying are the products of the blue prints and visionary leadership initiated by the executive director of the PGAN  DR Tony Philmoore to develop the sport to summit and improve on the welfare of the pros

By Barididum Leema