Olopade Puts Nigeria on Golf’s European Tour Line-up

Ikoyi Club’s Sunday Olopade is presently the only Nigerian professional golfer in the 2025 Magical Kenya Open that tees off yesterday at the Muthiaga Golf Club.

He picked one of the three last tickets to the $2.5m European Tour event marking Nigeria’s return to top-flight golf event since Oche Odoh last led Nigeria’s campaign in 2021.

Olopade finished behind Deus Willy and Paul Chidale for the last three tickets at the Safari Tour Regional Qualifiers on Monday.

Although his opening round at Muthiaga saw him posting +6 (a fourteen shots margin from the leading pair of J. Parry and B. Hubert, Olopade has his second round to make a fight for a stake in the winning purse and world ranking points.

“I will give it a fight. I will give it my best, but my joy is that I am able to speak for my colleagues back home with this performance here”.

He said the quality of professional golf in Nigeria has greatly improved of late and that is evidenced by the recent performances of Nigerian players across the continent.

Olopade who won both the Ivory Coast Open, Ghana Open and also bagged the biggest professional purse in Nigeria in 2024 in succession, said a lot of players of Nigerian descent can hold their on the continent if they get the right support.

Oche Odoh whom alongside Gift Willy are the standby players for the event yesterday said Olopade is an example of immense golfing talent that Nigeria boasts of.

“Olapade has been blazing since late last year especially with the series of victories he has recorded. I think the DP World Tour, Magical Kenya Open he is playing this week is the biggest feat of his career. I am very proud of him and I think he has more miles to walk on in his professional journey and as colleagues, we are here to cheer him.”

The Magical Kenya Open, is one of the few European Tour event hosted on the continent and a good performance for Olopade could earn him placement in more European Tour schedules.