Ainamani wins inaugural MTN Pro Tees tournament in Entebbe

Palm Valley Golf and Country Club’s Abraham Ainamani carded an overall 4-under 280 in 72 holes to win the inaugural MTN Pro Tees tournament at Entebbe Club on Friday.

The Entebbe golfer came from behind, having trailed in each of the four rounds, to win his second event of the year following his earlier triumph in the Threeways Golf Tournament in Fort Portal last month.

Ainamani trailed by four strokes after the first and second rounds, which Marvin Kibirige and David Kamulindwa led, and by two strokes behind Vincent Byamukama after the third but capitalised on the latter’s slip in the last three holes to take the biggest share of the sh15m kitty.

Ainamani notched 11 birdies and 4 eagles over the four rounds, with the two eagles coming in the last round to win the championship by two strokes over David Kamulindwa, who finished with 282. He attributed his win to hard work, which saw him also compete in the East Africa Sunshine Development Tour in Nairobi prior to the Entebbe event.

Kamulindwa was good for second im Entebbe. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

“I want to thank MTN for sponsoring this event. I have been practicing hard ever since I learned that we had this event, but it was hard because of the challenging and dry course,” Aianamani said. “My short game was off this week, but I got a couple of eagles and some birdies, and I would like to thank my fellow professionals for coming here to play. MTN has added to the number of tournaments we can now compete in. We have been going to Kenya to get competition, but with this, we can look forward to competing more locally.”

He said his third-round score of 68 is the one that won him the championship because it moved him into the pressure group and motivated him to go for the win.

“After the 17th hole, I checked the live scores and realised we were tied with Kamulindwa, so I told my caddie that we should go for it. I knew a birdie would win it for me, but I wrapped it up with an eagle, and so it feels good to win, and this will keep me focused in the upcoming Sunshine Development Tour events,” Ainamani stated.

Kamulindwa, who notched 17 birdies over the four rounds, finished second, with Rodell Gaita finishing third with 285.

Overnight leader Vincent Byamukama was poised for victory and had stretched his lead by three strokes by hole 15 despite earlier bogeys on holes 3, 7, 8, and 9 in the last round. But another bogey on the par-3 16 and double bogeys on the par-4 17 and par-5 18 derailed his campaign, and he eventually finished joint fourth with Bulhan Matovu at +2, 286 overall. A second-round hole-in-one by Abbey Bagalana on the par-3 12 was the other highlight of the tournament.

Final leaderboard:

Abrahan Ainamani 72 70 68 70 280

David Kamulindwa 72 66 73 71 282

Rodell Gaita            69 72 72 72 285

Bulhan Matovu       74 70 68 74 286

Vincent Byamukama 69 70 69 78 286

Irene Nakalembe     73 73 69 73 288

Silver Opio              72 74 69 74 289

Andrew Ssekibejja 74 68 72 75 289

Grace Kasango        74 70 70 76 290

Abbey Bagalana       73 73 71 74 291

Samuel Kato            76 71 73 72 292

Emma Ogwang        73 74 76 73 296

Deo Akope               75 72 71 79 297

Tom Jingo                73 72 72 82 299