Former Premier League and World Cup footballer Peter Odemwingie has qualified as a PGA professional, more than six years after retiring from his original sport.
The 42-year-old hung up his boots in 2018 after a career which saw him play Premier League football for West Bromwich Albion, Cardiff City, and Stoke City and feature at two World Cups for Nigeria. The striker scored 118 goals for nine different clubs in 414 total appearances, with 11 goals in 62 games for his country.
It was at West Brom that Odemwingie first caught the golf bug, though, joining some of his teammates after "seeing the excitement they had" for the game. Fast forward past early lessons while on holiday in Turkey, purchasing his first set of clubs, and more practice on the range, Odemwingie realized he might have a future as a pro in a different sport.
Speaking to the PGA, he said: “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 proves it's never too late to start your journey with the PGA! Peter Odemwingie is best known for playing top-level football, scoring over 30 Premier League goals for West Bromwich Albion and representing Cardiff City and Stoke City. He has played in two World Cups and… pic.twitter.com/X02NmPp3DoJune 25, 2024
Post-retirement, the talented striker stated in 2020 that he was "ready to make some noise" as a golfer. 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, the Uzbekistan-born sportsman made starts 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.
And a couple of years later, he graduated from the University of Birmingham and now call himself 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.”
As far as the former footballer's next steps go, he has one eye on continuing his coaching and the other on playing senior tour golf once he turns 50 in July 2031.
Odemwingie said: "I have all the books ready to make the next step in the coaching, which is the plan now - to read as many books as I can... I’m taking a break for one year where I’ll read and learn as much as I can, and then I’ll go back and do the honours degree at the University of Birmingham from next September.
“My eyes are on the senior tour in the future because I definitely know there is a player in me. This game offers us longevity and if you stay healthy you can play for a long time, as someone like Gary Player shows.
“Hopefully when I’m old with a lot of grey hairs I’ll be able to tell a pretty cool story about my time playing golf."
