The main event of the Tusker Malt Lager Uganda Golf Open tees off at the Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort and Spa today with over 70 players vying for the championship.

The single handicappers from across the country and within East Africa are all in to try to stop defending champion Joseph Cwinya-ai from making it second-time lucky.

But Cwinya-ai is hoping to sign out in style if he successfully defends it in the 72-hole, four-day action that starts Wednesday.

Cwinya-ai will after the open be on his way to the US to join other Ugandans who are attending college on a golf scholarship at Livingstone College in North Carolina.

With the cast of Kenyan national team players that normally spice up the event not coming this time because of a similar engagement in Nairobi, the battle is left to the Uganda national team players to try and wrestle it from their captain.

Having wrestled it back from Kenya’s John Lejirma last year in Entebbe for his maiden win, Cwinya-ai says he is not under any pressure to defend it.

“I’m cool; I’m fine. It is going to be me against the course. I'm not going to be competing against anyone but the course because once I beat the course, I will end up on top but if it defeats me there will be no work done. So, it is important to finish where I want to be,” Cwinya-ai said.

“I’m not under any pressure at all because I have won it before, so the pressure is going to be on those that are trying to win it for the first time. There will be some pressure but not as intense as it was before,” he said.

Cwinya-ai will be up against national team players like Ibrahim Bagalana, Joseph Kasozi, Ibrahim Ssemakula, Michael Tumusiime, and Godfrey Nsubuga who already has two majors this year under his grasp, having won the Mbale and Lira Opens.

Also in the fray is US-based Titus Okwong who is currently in the country having represented Uganda in the All-Africa Championship in Egypt last month.

“I’m very prepared, been practicing at Serena for the last two weeks. I’m feeling pretty confident about my game and looking forward to my first Uganda Open win,” Okwong said.

Conspicuously missing is Michael Alunga who has opted to remain in Kenya to continue his chess at the Kenya Amateur Stroke Play Championship where he is currently seeded second in the race against Kenyan amateurs.

The top five junior players that excelled during the juniors open at the same venue including Mackinnon Masereka who won the event have been offered a chance to rub shoulders and compete with the best golfers as they nurture their talents.

They include Masereka, Charles Jjunju, Reagan Akena, Ronald Muhumba and Ibrahim Ssemakula.

There are also several other foreign players including George Mburu and Victor Onyango, Mutisya Muthui, and Robert Nyanchoga from Vetlab, Muthaiga, and Royal Nairobi Golf Clubs in Kenya.