For the first time in 12 months, Georgia Iziemgbe Oboh is back competing on the LET Access Series (LETAS) at the Women’s English Open.
The 26-year-old Bury-based Nigerian secured her LET card for 2026 in Q-school but has opted to play on the development tour in Manchester this week.
“We don’t get as many professional events in Manchester,” she said. “It’s really nice to be able to stay at home, be with my family and actually have some friends out watching as well.
“It’s going to be a great week and hopefully the weather gets even better, and I’m just grateful to God to be here and be representing.”
Oboh is among a field of 132 players competing at this week’s LETAS event which features the calendar’s second-highest prize purse of €80,000.
After a rough start to life on the LET, Oboh recorded one of her best career finishes coming top five at the Dutch Ladies Open.
“It was a miraculous week,” she said. “I’m just really grateful for the results. I knew I was playing well, swinging well, it was just to now get the scores together.
“Even though the results after haven’t been as great, it’s just another experience, another lesson that I take forward for the rest of the season and the years ahead.”
One of the few women golfers from Sub-Saharan Africa, Oboh is charting a path and carrying the hopes of the region’s future stars.
“I don’t just represent Nigeria, I present West Africa and largely Africa as a whole,” she said. “I pray that in the near future, we’ll be hosting our own events too, for women and men.
“I think Nigeria has a lot of potential. There are so many golfers just ready to come out and burst out onto the scene, and just you wait, you’ll see more of us out here soon.”
Oboh spent most of her childhood in Manchester, but decided to represent Nigeria, where her parents, who emigrated to England in their 20s, were born.
She said: “It’s an interesting story. So, my mother came first, and then my father came, and then my mother brought her siblings as well, and now my family is spread out pretty much between England, Scotland, America and Nigeria.
“My grandparents still live in Nigeria. I also lived in Nigeria at a point, and it’s quite interesting because now I can say that I am Nigerian.
“I experienced just what makes us special as Nigerians, and it’s a blessing to be able to represent Nigeria and to be able to represent my family everywhere I go.
“All my father’s friends, they always say how proud they are that I’m able to represent Nigeria as a whole as a professional golfer, and honestly, I love Nigeria.
“I love the food, I love the weather, and I’m just so glad to be Nigerian.
Oboh’s journey into golf began when she watched Mexico’s former World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa play live at the Women’s British Open.
“It was from that moment, when she gave me a golf ball, that I decided I wanted to be the best golfer in the world,” she said. “Seeing what she’s done in terms of representation for Mexico and improving the game of golf in Mexico, that’s something I would like to do in Nigeria, in West Africa and Africa as a whole.”
She took the sport like fish to water, winning on her first professional start at the Cote D’Ivoire Open as a 17-year-old in 2017.
Now, she’s hoping to become the first Nigerian to represent Nigeria in golf at the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.
“I was the first Nigerian to compete at Youth Olympic level in golf,” she said. “I’m just really excited for this next phase for women’s golf.
“I just need to improve my world ranking. I would say top 300 in the world by June 2028 should do it.
“My favourite verse is Philippians 4:13, which is, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’.
“I think it really sums up all my experiences, all the lessons, all the memories I’ve shared with my family and friends on and off the golf course.”
Currently ranked just outside top 800 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, she will be counting on a good performance on home soil to inch her closer to the Olympics.
She added: “It would be lovely to win at home, but overall, just to enjoy this week. It’s a blessing that I’m sleeping in my own bed.”
Oboh will tee it up in the first round of the Women’s English Open at 9.40am (local time) alongside Iceland’s Ragga Kristinsdottir and English amateur Amelia Wan.
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