When Tiger Woods won the prestigious Arnold Palmer Invitational, a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, in 2012 for the seventh time, little did he know he was inspiring a five-year-old, Iyene Essien, in faraway Nigeria to pick up a golf club and play.
At the time, Essien’s dad took her to a golf club in Abuja and she was immediately hooked.
“I was fascinated and asked if I could play,” says Essien in an interview with FORBES AFRICA. Convinced, it was not long before her dad bought her golf clubs and hired a coach to take her through the paces.
Today, she is a teen golfing sensation.
After winning her first golf event by age six, Essien has consistently dominated the African golfing world and gone on to represent Nigeria at international competitions. She finished second in the Champion of Champions golf tournament in Northern Ireland, playing on the same course as golfing legend Rory Mcllroy and has also won the prestigious Hurricane Junior Golf Tour (HJGT) in the United States, twice.
This story is from the April - May 2023 edition of Forbes Africa.
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This story is from the April - May 2023 edition of Forbes Africa.
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