Golfers braced for Inter-Club Match-Play Championships

Feb 02, 2017

The tournament is aimed at supporting struggling clubs in the country

Entebbe and Uganda Golf Club members are set to face off in the inaugural inter-club match play championship geared towards strengthening the bond between the two clubs with the biggest membership in Uganda.

Excitement is building up ahead of the two-legged annual championship -first leg due at Entebbe Club on Saturday. The tournament shall be played on the Four-ball-better-ball match play format.

Tournament director Innocent Kihika told a press conference at Kitante that the first leg will be hosted by Entebbe with the return leg at Kitante on April 8.

The first leg which will have 170 players from both sides is sponsored by Britam Insurance who has injected sh10m to the tournament. The side that garners more points will take the day, with the one with the most over the two legs winning the championship.

Uganda Golf Club vice-Captain Faiz Alam said they had mooted the idea because; "it could not no longer make sense to have many clubs in the country, whose members don't play against each other," .

"This is going to be a fantastic tradition which we are going to begin because the combined age of both clubs is over 200 years which is a fantastic heritage," Alam noted.

Entebbe Club vice chairman Oscar Semawere said the tournament is not only aimed at developing the game but might in future be used as a fundraiser to support other struggling clubs in the country.

"The top five professionals from Entebbe and those from Kitante will also play singles against each other for sh1m, so we are all excited and looking towards the day," Semawere stated.

He said the handicap limit from both sets of players had been relaxed a bit though the difference shouldn't be big in the different match-ups.

Britam Insurance CEO Allan Mafabi said his company had come in because it believes in sport and is a sponsor of different sports and teams in the region.

"We are proud to be associated with the golfing fraternity and we came in to help them develop talent the sport across the country, because as Britam we believe in sport," Mafabi remarked.

The Entebbe team is sponsored by Castle Lite.

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