Yahoo Sports The Premier League star who became a golf pro
"It's like watching David Beckham bend one with his right foot and Roberto Carlos doing it with his other foot."
It is perhaps unsurprising that Peter Odemwingie reaches for a football analogy when explaining his love for a graceful golf shot, given the success the former Premier League star had in the penalty area before swapping it for the fairway.
The 43-year-old scored 36 league goals for West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City and Cardiff City during a six-year spell in England's top flight, as well as winning 65 caps and an Olympic silver medal with Nigeria.
But now Odemwingie is a new member of the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) - an organisation with roots dating back to 1901 - and he has big ambitions for himself and his country.
"You have to have a dream and chase it, right?" he tells me when we meet on the tee at Aston Wood Golf Club near Birmingham and I ask about his ambitions to play on the PGA Tour.
"I'll play in Q School (the PGA Tour's development circuit that awards tour cards), see how far I am off that mark.
"I'm going to play the Open qualifiers next year. It's possible. I have the talent."
'The magic of golf brought us together'
Born in Tashkent - then in the Soviet Union but now capital of Uzbekistan - to a Nigerian father and Russian mother, Odemwingie only began his golf journey after joining West Brom in 2010.
But it was during his time with Stoke that he "fell in love" with the game.
"The magic of golf brought us together. The camaraderie grew a lot in the dressing room," he says of his time with the Potters, where then manager Mark Hughes rewarded players with time off for a round on overseas trips, and where Peter Crouch, Glen Johnson and Charlie Adam were regular golf buddies.
"We took that on to the pitch and had lots of success together as footballers."
And Odemwingie sees plenty of similarities between the two sports.
"Sometimes the weight of the pass in football is as important as how hard you hit a putt in golf, so [it's] not just all about power," he explains.
"I loved scoring goals, especially in the last minute of the game, and with golf it's like holing a putt on the 18th hole to win a tournament."
Having retired from football in 2019, he also loves the fact that golf is extending his time as a professional.
"My competitive nature is fed, and the good thing about golf is I can play this for many years to come," he says.
"My status as a sportsman is still there."
A degree of satisfaction
To get to this point, Odemwingie had to do something unusual for a footballer - go back to school.
He spent four years studying at the University of Birmingham, graduating with a foundation degree in professional golf studies.
"It was a proud moment for me," he remembers.
"On graduation day, seeing how everybody else was happy made me realise it took all of us some effort to get over the line, because a few people quit.
"I kind of miss it now."
Odemwingie lists communication skills, time management, retail, taxation, sports science and nutrition among the subjects he studied, but admits there was one area in which he struggled.
"I didn't give enough time to the business finance module," he confesses.
"I had to re-sit. But then I had to obviously focus - as a striker, I see the target, I have to hit it!"
Having passed second time around, he is hoping the skills he learned will be transferable and help to educate his three young children, while also giving him the opportunity to work as a coach.
And he is not limiting himself to golf, because he also plans to study for football's Uefa coaching licence.
"It will be a dream to coach my nations: Russia, Nigeria, England."
An Olympic dream for Nigeria
If talk of coaching the Three Lions and Super Eagles seems fanciful, Odemwingie has a back-up plan to help him return to the global sporting stage.
With golf having been readmitted to the Olympics in 2016, he wants to see a Nigerian aiming for the pin at the greatest show on Earth.
"If I cannot play as a golfer, I can at least be in the team of a golfer who will play there," he explains.
"I want to introduce people to the game and build a generation of golfers, from Nigeria in particular, that will participate in the Olympics."
The former striker knows all about the thrill of the Games, having been part of the Nigeria squad that lost the Beijing 2008 final 1-0 to Argentina.
While not every nation values Olympic football, Odemwingie says Nigerians see things differently.
"The medal is very well respected," he says of his silver, while also referencing the gold medal won by the men's team in Atlanta in 1996.
"It's a way to sell the project to our state government."
As he bids to spread the gospel of golf, Odemwingie is already planning meetings with officials and big corporate names back in his homeland, hoping to promote the benefits of his new sport.
"If we have more golf courses, there will be tourism. Kids can get scholarships in good countries.
"If somebody sees an opportunity, they can latch on to [it] and give themselves an amazing life."
And he is hoping to add his name to the mission, with future plans for a golf and football academy in Benin City.
"It's like any other sport. The earlier you start, you have a chance to become an elite."
For a man who has now operated as a professional in two sports, Odemwingie's golf evangelism shines through.
"One of my dreams is to see a Nigerian flag on the European Tour or PGA Tour.
"Hopefully my story will encourage people to start participating, encourage parents to take their kids and give them a feel of golf. I'm sure many of them will fall in love with the game just like I did."
