No fewer than 200 professional golfers have stormed Jos, the capital of Plateau State, for the 2018 governor’s cup.

Mr Tang Dapoet, the Captain of Lamingo Golf Glub, said this at the opening of the tournament in Jos on Tuesday.

According to him, participants are drawn from all over the country and beyond.

“In the last year’s edition, we had 96 professional golfers that participated, but in this year’s tournament, over 200 from all over the country and beyond are participating, ” he said.

Dapoet said Gov. Simon Lalong had made significant strides in promoting golf in the country, hence the rationale behind the tournament.

Declaring the competition open, Gov. Lalong said the tournament had since it’s inception in 2016 shown that Plateau was peaceful.

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“When we started this competition in 2016, people forget there is crisis in the state and this goes to show that Plateau is peaceful, ” he said.

The governor said that Plateau would soon become the home of golf in Nigeria, adding that the serene weather had placed the state in a vantage position

Lalong disabused the minds of Nigerians that golf is a game for the elite, saying that it is not reserved for the rich.

“Golf is not a game for the elite; anybody can be participate because it helps you keep fit and healthy,” Lalong said. (NAN)

•Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki (3rd right); his Plateau State counterpart, Simon Lalong (3rd left); Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu (2nd left), with other golfers, during the Governor’s Cup Golf Tournament, at the Benin Club, on Saturday, November 10,2018.