Uganda finishes 6th at Zone V Africa Golf Championship

Uganda amateur golf team found the going tough finishing 6th overall as the Zone V Africa Golf Championships ended at the Nkana Golf Club in Zambia on Friday.

Uganda's team of Becca Mwanja, Ronald Otile, Daniel Baguma and Dennis Asaba huffed and puffed but could not conquer the tight Nkana course where record winners South Africa again emerged on top.

After qualifying for the quarter finals (championship event) in 6th place, in the first round singles qualifying round, Uganda was pitted against their perennial rivals Kenya on Wednesday.

Kenya who has lost some grueling battles to Uganda in the past, this time got the better of their neighbours with John Karichu and Alfred Nandwa getting the better of Becca Mwanja and Denis Asaba in the foursomes while Samuel Njoroge beat Ronald Otile 7&6, with Daniel Baguma the only one managing a win over Edwin Mudanyi in the singles round.

In the afternoon session Uganda recovered to beat Namibia with Dennis Asaba and Daniel Baguma winning their games; 1up and 2up respectively with Otile and Mwanja winning their match 5&4.

Playing for fifth place against Swaziland on Friday, Uganda's poor run continued, losing to Swaziland where Vusi Dlamini and Sifiso Vilane squared off with the pair of Mwanja and Otile while Baguma and Asaba lost to James Pennington and Jabulane Mabaso, 7&6 and 3&2, in the closing round foursomes and singles matches respectively.

"This time, the team just happened to have bad luck. Our scoring was undone by tiny margins, like 4 putts stopping on the cup for Uganda while those of Kenya rolled in. So the loss looks big but it was actually close," team manager John Katto stated.

UGU president Johnson Omolo called it tough luck for Uganda and was hopeful the team would build on the positives from this outing.

"Our opponents were no push overs with equally skilled talent. Tough luck it was for us. Playing Kenya in quarters and Swaziland with one of the most skilled +3 handicappers was not easy," Omolo noted.

Kenya who beat Uganda earlier were also beaten by Zambia in the semis, finally settling for 5th place.

How it ended
1-South Africa
2-Zambia
3-Zimbabwe
4-Kenya
5-Swaziland
6-Uganda
7-Namibia
8-Botswana