It’s the Tema Country Golf Club who were singing ‘host and
win’ Sunday night as they beat Ikeja to lift the huge trophy as the 2012 winner
of the annual golf tournament between two clubs of the rivalry nations of Ghana
and Nigeria.
Tema amassed 24 to Ikeja’s total of 16 as final score over two days of playing golf
in 3rd edition of the tournament which has now been won on all three
occasions by the team playing on home territory.
Olatunji Adeyemo, captain of the visiting
side admitted that they were beaten by the better team in competition but was
quick to point out that Tema’s over-treatment and ‘over-pampering’ could have been
a plan by the
home side to catch them off guard.
“I want to assure you that we had fun in
Tema. They treated us too nicely, in fact we were over-treated. They made us
too comfortable and I don’t know if it was the plot to catch us unawares but I think
they played well and deserve to win. We have already said that the only winner
is the game of golf,” Mr. Adeyemo said in his closing remarks.
His opposite number Dr. Paul Owusu-Baah,
was equally grateful to his Nigerian counterpart. “This is a friendly encounter,
there are no winners. We all came together to play a game of golf and enjoy it.
I played with Mr. Adeyemo yesterday and I must say he is a very good golfer and
I believe you can also be a great politician because you are a good orator. We
thank them very much for the picture that they have given us,” the Tema Captain
responded.
But the defeat still hung at the back of
his mind, Ikeja Golf Club Captain Adeyemo immediately started beating war drums
ahead of next year’s tournament in Nigeria, albeit in a friendlier manner.
“If you want us to come next month, we
can arrange it. If you want us to come in two months time, we can come, three
months time we’ll come. It’s just for you to ask us to come and we’ll be here.
We hold Tema Golf Club in high esteem, it’s a club that is dear to our hearts
and we are proud to be associated with them.” Mr. Adeyemo said.
He continued: “We accept defeat that we
lost here today but we’ll be waiting for them next year. We can’t wait to
slaughter them on the golf course to avenge this defeat.”
But adamant that Tema will go to Ikeja
and claim victory is the Captain of the Ghanaian club himself. Dr. Paul
Owusu-Baah exclusively told www.sportsinghana.com of the intention to go to Nigeria
next year and beat Ikeja.
“The game was very difficult, they are
very good golfers and we had to play at top level to beat them. We want to go
there and beat them so we are going to begin preparations for next year now. I know
it’s like host and win on all previous occasions but next year, we want to go
Lagos and surprise them,” Dr. Owusu-Baah told us.Credit: Prince Dornu-Leiku