A handicap nine player  with the Port Harcourt club, Mr Tunde Jackson, on  Saturday won this year’s edition of the NNPC Golf tournament also known as Rose Bowl.

Jackson won with a net score of 69. He carted home a giant trophy and complete golf kits

Another member of the club and handicap 13 player, Mr Iwarimie Diri came second with a net score of 72 while Mr Jeff Onuoha finished third with a net score of 73.

Diri and Onuoha were given trophies and other assorted prizes.

In the women category, Mrs Princess Joy Lule won the event with a net score of 79. She also carted home a giant trophy and golf kits.

Mrs  A. P Wifa came second with a net score of 80 while Mrs Kate Unaeze came third with a net score of 81.

First military Governor of old Rivers state and traditional ruler of Twon Brass in Bayelsa state, Chief Alfred Diette-Spiff won the veteran’s men category with a net score of 71 while Chief Ben Iloabachie came second with a net score of 79.

The overall winner, Tunde Jackson later described his victory was a dream come true.

“ Well, first of all like I said earlier, I thank God and I thank my wife. Like I said earlier, I have been looking forward to winning this tournament for the past five years and today God made it possible with a good weather.

“And, like I advised the GED (Group Executive Director) now, of NNPC, I told him he should seek corporate membership for NNPC staff.

“Golf is life. People should come and play golf. All we need to tell the corporate sponsors that we have lost, we have a lot of them. I can’t start mentioning their names, we used to have Crushed Rocks, Eagle Cement, lots of companies.

“All we need to do is to appeal to them, reach out to them , send letters to them and say see, NNPC came, there was no problem. Corporate sponsorship, we need them for the club to grow,’’ he said.

Jackson appealed to Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers to sponsor golf tournament in his capacity as a golfer.

Group Executive Director, Refineries and Petro-Chemicals, NNPC, Mr Tony Ogbuigwe, who represented the Group Managing Director of the company, Mr Andy Yakubu, said the company sponsored the tournament as part of its corporate social responsibility.

He said the company used the game to  bring sports to the hub of the oil and gas industry.

“We are sponsoring it because we believe it is a contribution into bringing the society together.

“You know, Rivers state, the Niger Delta has suffered so much in recent times, with the militancy, thank God which is behind us now, so many businesses moved away from the state.

“We believe that by sponsoring this tournament and bringing people together again, it helps to raise the profile of Port Harcourt in particular, so that the town will really function as the real oil capital of Nigeria’’ he said.

He said that the company would make the sponsorship an annual affair and that this year’s event had signaled the return of the Rose Bowl tournament.