From Elite footballer to PGA Golfer, the story of former Nigeria Super Eagles forward Peter Odemwingie
Peter Osaze Odemwingie was a professional footballer who played for the Nigeria national team, the Super Eagles at four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and two World Cup finals. He also featured for a host of clubs in Nigeria, Belgium, France, Russia, England before retiring in Indonesia at Madura United. He scored 11 goals in […] The post From Elite footballer to PGA Golfer, the story of former Nigeria Super Eagles forward Peter Odemwingie appeared first on Kawowo Sports.
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Peter Osaze Odemwingie was a professional footballer who played for the Nigeria national team, the Super Eagles at four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and two World Cup finals.
He also featured for a host of clubs in Nigeria, Belgium, France, Russia, England before retiring in Indonesia at Madura United.
He scored 11 goals in 65 international caps for Nigeria Super Eagles over a decade plus duration and netted 125 goals for the 10 clubs in his 18-year tenure.
Today, Odemwingie has transformed into a professional golfer with the Professional Golfers Association (PGA).
The PGA announced the admission of Odemwingie into its ranks in a video published on Tuesday, 26th June 2024.
This is association that organizes tours for professional golfers around the globe.
Speaking on his induction, the former Super Eagles attacker said he fell in love with golf during the latter days of his football career.
He highlighted the difficulty of adapting to the “loneliness” of golf after his career in a “group sport”.
“I’m really proud of all of myself and my friends who are graduating today as well. It is a long journey. I fell in love with the game,” Odemwingie stated.
I play lots of pro-ams as an amateur. I am coming from a football background. I had a decent-level career in a group sport. Now I am in a different sport, sometimes you can be lonely in golf — just you and your caddie, if you have one. And seeing what the PGA professionals enjoy. I pass the playing ability test, I was accepted on the programme and I was excited that day as I am today. I started playing just at the end of my West Brom days because a few of the boys played, and I could see the excitement they had for it. They would go and play on a Tuesday after training, and they’d have their golf gear and be talking about it, but I couldn’t understand it because the golf vocabulary is so different to anything else. Then, on one of the pre-season training trips with West Brom, [manager] Roy Hodgson took us to a golf resort and people were doing putting and playing full rounds on days off, so I was just passing by the range, and I thought I’d try and hit some balls. I was wearing slippers, but I hit a few, and I loved the sound and watching the ball fly. It was downhill so it carried further. I thought, ‘OK, there’s something in this’. Peter Osaze Odemwingie, PGA Golfer
For starters, Odemwingie was born in Uzbekistan to a Russian mother and a Nigerian father.
He made his Super Eagles debut in 2002. He made 65 appearances for the men’s national team.
He featured for Nigeria in the 2014 World Cup, scoring against Bosnia Hezergovania in the group stage to secure the country’s promotion to the round of 16.
Odemwingie began his football career at Bendel Insurance before moving to Europe with La Louvre FC, then Lille and Lokomotiv Moscow.
He then joined West Brom, Cardiff City, and Stoke City in the English Premier League (EPL).
He officially retired from the beautiful game at the apex of the 2017-2018 season with Madura United Football Club, an Indonesian topflight club, scoring 15 goals in 23 games.
Odemwingie then began his PGA training in a bid to begin a new life as a professional.
Having passed his playing test on the number at The Belfry, making his debut on the Clutch Tour (formerly the PGA EuroPro Tour) – the tier below the Challenge Tour – as well as the Jamega Tour and the TP Tour.
He has graduated from the University of Birmingham and a full member of the PGA.
Describing the sheer hard work involved in reaching this point, Odemwingie told The PGA. “I’m proud because I challenged myself not only to apply effort in a sport but also academically.
“I hope my story motivates people to follow suit, whether that’s through The PGA or any other form of studies. The course takes some effort to accomplish. I hear that people do quit halfway through because of the volume of it and the pressure that comes with it.
“It wasn’t easy, but I think the character I developed from football helped. I’ve had those times when I had a goal drought and didn’t score for five or six months, but you have to keep going – sometimes you just have to endure.”
Additional information from PGA & Golf Monthly news
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