Vincent Torgah leads the way after a sparkling 63 at Round 1

The heat was raised to its peak as the various players who have come from different parts of Africa in celebration of the Nigeria's Independence, revealed their strength in the game.

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On the spotlight is Mr. Consistency (Vincent Torgah) who seems to have had a major comeback as he begins the first round of the 1st October Championship with a tremendous score of 7-under 63. The Ghanaian player leads after carding a record-setting score of 63 in the opening round, to take a three shots lead. The 35 years old player has ranked No. 1 on the Tour’s Order of Merit, after playing in the last group. He is certainly back to defend his title and take over the cup. One will say he has set the bar way too high for other competitors.

Torgah began his game with a birdie in the first hole. He subsequently made an Eagle on hole 3 par 5. However he stumbled upon a boogie on hole 9 par 4, but that did not leave him short, as he proceeded to sink birdies on holes 10, and 3 straight birdies on holes 14, 15 and 16.  He closed the game with a total of 1 Eagle, 6 birdies and 1 boogie.

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Chasing relatively closed was Visitor Mapwanya who posted halves of 34 and 32 on the front and back nine respectively, to finish the day with a blemish free 4-under 66. The Zimbabwean who took a break from the Tour earlier this year, was back to being 100 % focused on his golf since the “Shagamu Cup” last month. Visitor carded 4 birdies, on holes 1, 7, 14 and 15. He kept a clean card over the Port Harcourt golf course and grabbed just enough birdies to keep him in second place after round 1.

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Gift Willy also made i a run! as he chases closely in third place. To start the tournament, the portharcourt based player rolled a birdie putt at the home hole to card a 3-under 67, leaving him 4 shots off the lead. Willy who entered the week with some decent form, finishing inside the top 10 in three of his previous four starts. The Nigerian is one of (if not the most) accomplished player never to have won a title on the Tour since joining in 2017. Maybe he has one last stand in him this week. With  4 birdies and 1 boogie, he finished the round 1 stroke behind Mapwanya.

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There was a long tie in the fourth place as 5 players struggled for the spot. Chukwudi Okoro, Solomon Ideriah, Christopher Francis, E.K Owusu and one time winner, Francis Epe kept the spot with level par 70.

Two other players carded 1-over par 71. The duo included two time winner on the Tour, Kingsley Oparaku and Atako Morgan of Port Harcourt golf club.

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The layout at the Portharcourt Golf Course has been prestigious as ever. The course which is hosting the African Tour for the second time this season, has been beautifully presented this week, and is delivering a firm but fair test of golf tournament,

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Watch out as we bring you live updates from 2019 1st October Golf Championship.

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