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‘I came to play for a win’

Feb 5, 2015, 9:48 AM | Article By: Cherno Omar Bobb

Sweden-based professional golfer Lamin Touray, who was the winner of the 2012 Gambia Open and Pro Am Golf tournament, has said he came to The Gambia with the aim of playing for a win in the second edition of Qatari Ambassador-sponsored tournament.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the competition at the Fajara Club yesterday, shortly after completing a session of 36 holes, Touray said: “I come to play for a win”, adding that it is the confidence every player should have.

The other professional golfers will have to play good golf to beat him, he pointed out.

“If I was not confident of beating others, I will not come down to play”, he declared, adding, “I will do my best during the competition.”

Golf is 90 percent mental sport, which is why he came early to prepare himself, went on, adding that “in Europe you play on grass and not on the sand like in The Gambia.”

Playing on the mat will make his game better, because the mat is similar with the grass he is used to playing on, he further stated. “To show my talents I have to play on the mat.”

When the Qatari ambassador invited him to the tournament and informed him that they will be playing on mat, he booked his flight to come down and play, Touray went on.

“I have been training in Sweden, but the winter came and I could not play for the past two weeks before coming.”

Touray said he has been training every day, since he landed in The Gambia to catch up on his game.

Dodou Kassama, one of Gambia’s finest professional golfers, who lifted the 2014 Gambia Open and Pro-AM, said he will just do his best, after finishing fourth in the first competition of the year.

He is currently working on his game, and hopes to have good games on Friday and Saturday when the professional play, he added.

“I will go out there and enjoy doing what I do best”, he said, adding that he knows it will be a tough tournament because all the professionals are in top form.

He described the tournament as very good for the participants, because it is one of the biggest in The Gambia’s golf calendar.