Day One leaderboard

Kenya 5.5pts

Uganda 2.5

Uganda put up a good fight in the opening two rounds but was not solid enough as the sixth edition of the Victoria Cup teed off at the Uganda Golf Club on Thursday.

After the opening two rounds of the foursomes and the four-ball-better-ball, Uganda finds themselves trailing the visitors by three points going into the third and fourth rounds which will also be played under the same formats.

Adell Balala in action

But the scores don’t give the true picture of the competition, as despite trailing, the Ugandans put in a good shift against the more experienced and more exposed-four-time champions; and only need to correct a few small details that cost them some of the matches.

In the opening foursomes, Uganda could only manage a point out of a possible four after the partnership of Joseph Cwinya-ai/Andrew Ssekibejja beat Michael Karanga/Elvis Muigua, 4&3 (by four holes with three holes to go).

Amon Bwambale

Ibrahim Bagalana

The other Ugandan pairs of Joseph Kasozi/Amon Bwambale and of Titus Okwong/Elton Thembo against Sammy Mulama/Beiju Krisch and Adel Balala/Ebill Omollo went to the wire with the Ugandans losing at the 18th hole.

The one involving Ibrahim Bagalana/Ibrahim Ssemakula could also have been decided at the 18th hole but Ssemakula miscued his tee shot and sent the third out of bounds, heading to the final hole, to lose 2UP.

In the afternoon fourballs, it was again Cwinya-ai and Reagan Akena that made easy work of Josphat Rono/Danny Chelogoi with a 4&2 victory, for Uganda’s full point before Bagalana/John Musiimenta squared it out with Adel Balala/Ebill Omollo for a half-point each.

Dennis Maraa reacts

Elton Thembo

Ssekibejja/Elto Thembo and the Kasozi/Bwambale partnerships fell to John Lejrima/Dennis Maara and Mulama/Krisch; 2up and 4&2 respectively.

Uganda coach Flavia Namakula believes her charges still have a lot to offer in the remaining rounds.

“Some of the boys played under pressure and only need to calm down and if they do that I believe we can win,” team Coach Namakula said.

“I made a few changes in the pairings and gave a chance to the players that did not play in the morning and that gave chance to calm down. And I’m sure we can play better tomorrow.

“The juniors are playing well and I’m proud of them because they are playing well and are confident and I think we can get better in the subsequent rounds and bring those points down,” Namakula stated.

Despite the three-point lead his Kenyan counterpart thinks the competition is still tight.

“We had five games finishing on the 18th hole out of eight, so it is way tighter than what people think, it's quite interesting. There will be some pressure definitely,” Kenyan coach John Van Liefland noted.