eTranzact Golf Classic Returns to IBB Course with N20m Purse

The second edition of the eTranzact Golf Classic has been scheduled to be held at the IBB International Golf and Country Club in Abuja from Wednesday, May 15 to Friday, May 17, 2024, with a N20 million purse.

The event which debuted on the PGD (Professional Golf Development) Tour last year, promises to deepen its core objective of helping unearth and promote golf talent in the country.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of eTranzact, Niyi Toluwalope, said eTranzact has been on the path of pioneering projects, providing financial technology platforms for businesses to succeed, and the eTranzact Golf Classic is an offshoot of this vision.

“We are very supportive of the design and the management objectives of the Professional Golf Development Tour, that is why we launched the eTranzact Golf Classic on it last year. This year, we have taken our support for the golf development project a notch higher by introducing some changes around the event.

“This edition would be staged at the IBB International Golf and Country Club, in Abuja. This is our bid to bring a new flavour in terms of the challenge that the IBB Golf Course brings to the event. The other factor that would be different is that the event would now have a purse of N20 million, which is double what was on offer at the maiden edition,”

Toluwalope said that the event is also meant to appeal to a broader audience across the continent who have been showing interest since the event debuted last year.

PGD Tour Commissioner, Femi Olagbenro, said the new tweaks to the eTranzact event were welcomed and added to the portfolio of innovations that the Tour is known for.

“What eTranzact brings to the Tour and the golf community at large is their pioneering spirit and so far I can confirm that these additions are well received. Registrations have been on the high and entries are swelling,” he added.

This year event is powered by eTranzact’s top corporate and productivity solutions – SwitchIT and PayOutlet, and it’s payment gateway – Credo.

The first edition of the event staged at the Lakowe Lakes Golf Course in Lagos, was won by Francis Epe. Epe also presently leads the PGD Tour’s 2024 ranking with a marginal point difference from Olapade Sunday, whose win in the event might upstage the ranking order.

There are also potential threats from Okoko Godwin, Kamalu Bako, Inalegwo George, Elisha Markus, and Kabiru Habu Mohammed on the home front. 

Other Top West African players like Ghana’s trio of Barry Yaw, Augustine Manasseh, and Vincent Torgah are also on the cards to cause ripples.

Olagbenro, adds that entries are also expected from Cameroon, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire other West and Central African countries.

“The PGD Tour has made Nigeria a hub for professional golfers and the eTranzact Golf Classic is one of the key events on the Tour. So we expect some thrilling outing at the eTranzact event this year,” Olagbenro.