Europe’s victorious 2014 Ryder Cup captain, Paul McGinley, and David Williams, Chairman of the PGA European Tour Board of Directors, were engaged in an historic and highly significant visit to Accra, the capital of Ghana today.
McGinley and Williams formed part of a delegation, including Arthur Morris of The R&A, who visited Achimota Golf Club, six miles north of the city centre, which has been redesigned by the Irishman and is earmarked as a potential future tournament venue.
The redesign project was funded by Tullow Oil, who have close ties with Ghana in the oil exploration and production field, and Aidan Heavey, the company’s Founder and CEO, formally handed over the new-look course bearing the McGinley stamp to Club Captain Frank Adu on behalf of all the Members and Officials, in the presence of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, King of Ashanti.
The official ceremony enabled Williams, who took over as Chairman earlier this year, to witness the legacy that McGinley and Tullow will leave in Ghana, and also the continent of Africa, where The European Tour already has a powerful golfing relationship. Williams was brought up in Ghana and therefore this visit is particularly meaningful both in a personal sense as well as for The European Tour.
This latest initiative also helps to further develop golf, and to increase awareness of the game and Achimota Golf Club within Ghana, following in the footsteps of The R&A, who have already embarked on developmental activity in the country.
Andy Stubbs, Managing Director of the European Senior Tour, is currently seeking commercial support from within the Ghanaian business community with a view to establishing the first Senior Tour event in the country which would firmly establish the game and club on the world golfing map.
Achimota Golf Club began life as a seven-hole course, eventually being increased to nine holes and staging the first Ghana Open in 1940. It became a full 18-hole lay-out 30 years later and he redesign and reconstruction of the course has been a passionate project for McGinley during his Ryder Cup captaincy tenure.
While Tullow Oil funded the course reconstruction, the club themselves financed a refurbishment of the clubhouse which has converted Achimota Golf Club into not only the best venue in Ghana but one of the leading locations in Africa.
