Augustine Manasseh wins first PGA trophy

Augustine Manasseh won the 2023 Golden Classic PGA Golf Tournament which happens to be his first trophy with total score of 173 over three days.

Manasseh who is from the Center of World Golf Club started round one on a gentle display but tightened his play in the next two rounds to better his opponents to clinch the top spot with seven under-par.

The tournament which lasted for three days saw E.K Owusu ending round one better than winner Augustine Manasseh but lost his grip in the subsequent rounds as he finished second after round three with total of 177 gross score.

Lucky Ayisah from the Achimota Golf Club showed brighter signs earlier after finishing round one with two-under-par but could not replicate the same performance in round two and three as he came third with total of 180 standard scratch score (sss).

A young golfer from the Royal Golf Club in Kumasi, Kwabena Poku produced 181 total score, and 183 total score by Prince Agyiri of Damang golf Club placed him fifth to complete the top five.

In the Seniors category, Victor Brave Mensah finished first following a score of 146 whilst Robert Allotey came second with 150 total score.

PGA treasurer Dawuda Mohammed and Akwesi Prempeh finished joint third with the same score of 156.

Frank Asorgbah completed the seniors top five with 174 total score.

This is the first qualifying tournament for the 10th edition of Gold Fields PGA Golf Championship to be held later this year in Damang where twenty- four (24) regular golfers, also seniors and some foreign players are expected to qualify.

Tournament Director Akwssi expressed satisfaction for with the tournament though they had to face heavy disruption by the consistent rain fall.

‘After the overall results it has helped my work and dreams to come true because these young golfers have surprised me a lot especially Augustine Manasseh and Kwabena Poku, Daniel Agyeri, Yaw Barry Djadey and some other new members of PGA who showed they ready to take over from Emos Korblah, Vincent Torgah, Kojo Barnni and the rest if they eventually retired or join seniors leaving the regular scene.

Speaking to the winner young Augustine Manasseh on the side, he revealed it was a challenging week for his to win his first PGA tournament since joining Ghana PGA on September last year having to beat the rainy course my seniors colleagues to achieve this big honour in my professional career as a pro golfer.

I was very difficult to hitting the fair way and maintaining your balls on greens at all time but I told myself I was in to win which paid off at the end.

Going forward in the Ghana PGA calendar year I will make sure I stay fit, practice more and also play well in all tournament to help achieve my dreams for the year he added.

‘ Tournament director continued by congratulating him by saying this shows that they are doing great and there is a brighter future for themselves and Ghana PGA as a group. I congratulate them for putting up such performances. This is the Gold Fields PGA championship 10th anniversary so no golfer should take it for granted and younger ones are also playing well so this year’s Damange Championship will be competitive, he added.

Over 26 golfers also competed in the Quest Tour which serves as a qualifiers for amateur golfers seeking to gain professional PGA cards.

Ezekiel Afisco put out a solid performance to top the table after round two with 149 total score although more and better good scores were expected from them according to tournament director.

Godwin Asem came second after coming close with 153 total score. 154 gross score put Amaya Awuni in third position as Yaw Tinkorang and Yao Dogbe completed the top five with 155 and 157 total score respectively.

Akwasi Prempeh who is the Tournament director of Professional Golfers Association was not impressed with the younger golfers performances.

‘’Their score wasn’t encouraging, all the executives were not impressed with their performances.

‘’They are young and have no much to worry about so we expected them to play well but I think it was due to pressure on them because this is their first time of playing such major championship and playing with the pros as well so pressure will definitely be on them but I’m hoping they bounce back well in next tournaments.’’

The next qualifying tournament to 2023 Golf Fields PGA Championship in Damang is the 2nd edition of Captain Prize Championship which is set to come off on 30th March to 4 April.

Over 240 golfers have registered to participated in the championship and the prize money for the Captain Prize Tournament is GHC 50,000.00.