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Osaze finds love on the golf course
Peter Odemwingie, a former forward for the Super Eagles who is also a professional golfer, says he is excited to succeed as a player and coach in a new sport and use his prominence to help develop the sport in Nigeria.
The former international, who played for Bendel Insurance of the Nigeria Premier League before stints in Europe, was graduated from the PGA school last month, according to a statement released by the Professional Golfers Association on Tuesday.
As stated by the PGA on X, "Peter Odemwingie is best known for playing top-level football, having scored over 30 goals for West Bromwich Albion and representing Cardiff City and Stoke City."
He participated in two World Cups and, in 2008, took home an Olympic medal. After retiring from football, he took up golf and is now a fully-fledged PGA professional.”
In an extensive interview with the PGA website, the 42-year-old revealed that he started playing the game towards the end of his time at West Brom before he joined Aston Wood Golf Club in Staffordshire and achieved a handicap that brought him within the threshold to undertake the Playing Ability Test.
"At 42 years old, I feel like I was a teenager again. It's actually a benefit because I was able to set aside my past and my football career and remind myself that I'm a young man starting a new path in a sport that he loves. Attending two sessions during a week-long residential programme in England with a predominantly younger student body made me feel like a little child.
"I am focused on the senior tour as I am certain that I have what it takes to be a player." We can play this game for a long time if we stay healthy, as Gary Player and others have demonstrated.
Now, Odemwingie wants to use his fame to promote golf, especially in Russia and Nigeria, countries that have produced many famous football players but still have a lot of room to grow in the game.
It is unfortunate, he thinks, that these highly athletic countries do not have golfers representing them on the international scene.
"I've had to prioritise my academics over the past five years, but now that I'm a graduate, I can do something. I want to acquire support to start some competitions in Nigeria with respectable prize money.
As the former USSR is a sizable region and has seen Challenge Tour tournaments in nations like Kazakhstan, I'd like to travel there and talk to people about potential to expand the game in in that part of the world too. Hopefully now with my status as a PGA Professional, it will open doors and people will take it seriously, and from there, you go step by step towards your goals.”
Odemwingie has not been spotted coaching since he retired from football in 2018, but he has already laid out a strategy for his future as a golf instructor.
"I am prepared to move forward with the coaching by reading as many books as possible, and I have all the necessary books at my disposal. I want to continue down that path of lifelong learning, and I'm intrigued by the courses that the PGA provides.
"I will read and learn as much as I can during my year-long break, and then I will return to the University of Birmingham to begin my honours programme in September of next year."