Ex-Nigeria and West Brom star Odemwingie qualifies as PGA Professional
The Premier League icon had announced his membership in the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) in 2018 and was given a slot for training under the University of Birmingham Foundation's degree in professional golf studies.
“I’m proud because I challenged myself not only to apply effort in a sport but also academically,” Odemwingie told the PGA website.
“I hope my story motivates people to follow suit, whether that’s through The PGA or any other form of studies.
"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, 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’.”
The challenge of earning PGA Membership has given Odemwingie a renewed sense of purpose. He is grateful to have found a new path, with mentors like head Pro Jak Hamblett guiding him along the way.
He continued: “I’m 42 now and it feels like I was a teenager one more time. It’s a blessing really as I got to put my history and my football career to one side and I told myself, ‘You’re a young man just beginning a new journey in a sport that you fell in love with’.
"I saw myself as a young kid and felt young going to two classes on a residential week in England with mostly younger people.
“I’ve had to put my studies first these past few years, but now I have graduated I am in a position to do something and I hope to get backing to organise some tournaments in Nigeria for decent prize money.”
Born in Uzbekistan to a Russian mother and a Nigerian father, Odemwingie began his football career with Nigerian topflight side Bendel Insurance before moving to La Louviere in 2004.
Impressive spells in France and Russia, with Lille and Lokomotiv Moscow respectively, saw him attract interest from Premier League teams.
In 2010, he joined West Bromwich Albion, where he scored 30 goals in 87 top-flight appearances and won the Player of the Month award three times (September 2010, April 2011, and February 2012).
Following an infamous 2013 transfer deadline-day incident, where he arrived at Queens Park Rangers attempting to orchestrate a move, he left West Bromwich Albion under a cloud.
Odemwingie subsequently played for Cardiff City, Stoke City, and Rotherham United before departing English football for Indonesian top-flight side Madura in 2017.
On the international stage, he represented the Super Eagles in four Africa Cup of Nations editions (2004, 2006, 2008, and as captain in 2010).
In 2008, he was named an overage player for the Nigerian team which secured the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics.
Odemwingie also participated in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, scoring the decisive goal against Bosnia & Herzegovina in Brazil, which secured the West Africans' advancement to the Round of 16.
