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His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, has yet again underscored the importance of golf to a country and why Ghana should accord it the needed attention.

He wondered why Ghana has paid little attention to the sport in spite of the gross advantage the country stand to gain if it is esteemed. Otumfuo therefore lauded Vodafone, headline sponsor of the 60th Asantehene Golf Championship and their (Vodafone) commitment to sponsor the event for the next five years.

His Majesty reminded the Youth and Sports Minister Isaac Asiamah of his promise earlier in his speech that Golf will be receiving its fair share of funding from his ministry.

He appealed to him and the government for a new direction in sports policy to provide for fairness in the support of sports like athletics, boxing, tennis and other disciplines and for the reintegration of sports into our educational system.” 

Vodafone Ghana CEO Yolanda Cuba pointed out that “For us, we see this association as very strategic for our brand – as it aligns with our capabilities and speaks directly to the audience we want to reach. She added that “This tournament also offers us a perfect platform for building long and lasting business relationships with our customers in an informal setting. She commended His Royal Majesty The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for his unparalleled contribution to the success of business operations and for his leadership, passion for physical fitness and healthy living which are also great values that Vodafone very much identifies with.

In his welcome address, Prof Bernard Baiden (Operations) outlined the new open door policy and the institution of corporate training packages by the club to increase membership. He therefore appealed to all to take advantage of the initiatives and join the club.

The Chairman of the five-member management team of the Club, Mr. Kwasi Attah-Antwi said “this open championship was instituted six decades ago, primarily to foster friendship and also deepen already existing relationships in our fraternity. He indicated that this objective has been achieved in this year’s milestone tournament.

It was host club’s Kwabena Poku, who won the men’s Scratch event after recording a gross score of 297 over 72 holes, while Maxwell O. Bonsu also from the Royal Golf Club, Achimota’s Alfred Kwame finishing second and third with gross scores of 299 and 307 respectively. Constance Awuni, Royal Golf Club dominated the ladies Scratch event with gross score of 158 over 36 holes, beating Club mate Felicity Okyei-Gyeabour by five strokes, who also beat Jessica Tei, Achimota by seven strokes.

Israel Dogbe finished first in the men’s Handicap event with a net score of -5 over 36 holes while Juddy Gyimah-Bota picked the ladies Handicap version with a net score of +8 also over 36 holes. Paul Dwomoh from the Royal Golf Club and Antoinette Ollenu, a staff of CalBank from Achimota Golf Club picked the men and ladies support prizes with net scores of -4 (68) and -1 (71) respectively over 18 holes. George Basonege from Obuasi left the Club as the winner of the invitational Pro-Am event with net score of -1 (71) over 18 holes.

Tema’s Vincent Torgah won the pros event with a score of -9 (279) over 72 holes. He returned a score of -6 (66) on the last day to equal the lowest score record at the Royal Golf Course. He took home the winning purse of GHc12,500 out of the total purse of GHc 50,000. The professional event was sponsored by the Royal Golf Club, Kumasi.