Zone V Golf Championships: Uganda good for third in Swaziland

Apr 15, 2016

“The boys finished third which was a super performance which met our expectations."

Top five

South Africa

Zambia

Uganda

Swaziland

Zimbabwe

Uganda Golf Union president Johnson Omolo has hailed the Uganda amateur golf team for their third place finish at the Zone V Africa Golf Championships that ended on Friday in Swaziland.

The Ugandans, who went to the event as champions, having won the title on home soil last year, were beaten by eventual winners South Africa in the semi-finals of the event on Thursday; but Omolo believes it was an overall good performance from the team that comprised of Adolf Muhumuza, Ronald Otile, Daniel Baguma and Ronald Rugumayo.

"The boys finished third which was a super performance which met our expectations, bearing in mind that they faced the continent's best golfers in a match play format in the quarter and semi-finals.

"They broke the jinx of not finishing in top 4 in Zone VI, a position they had never attained before in the tournament history out of East Africa," Omolo stated.

The team's focus will now turn on the Victoria Cup between Kenya and Uganda due early June.

Uganda put a strong performance in the opening stroke play qualifier qualifying in Division A, in fourth place. They went on to beat Mauritius in the quarter-finals but found the South African challenge in the semis a little tougher like has always been over the years, in the tournament that adopted a new format of play this year.

South Africa beat Zambia 3up in the finals to claim their 20th title in the 22nd edition of the tournament that attracted golfers from 13 countries.

The participating countries included the host nation Swaziland, defending champions Uganda, Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

South Africa have dominated the Africa Zone VI Golf Tournament in the past 21 years since the country was readmitted to international golf in 1995.

They have won the tournament outright since with the exception of 1998 when the team tied with Zimbabwe in Swaziland but won on a count out of holes up.

Kenya, who won in Botswana in 2010, briefly interrupted their clean sweep, with Uganda also winning on home soil last year.

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