Otile, Basalaine shine in US match-play tournament
Sep 11, 2020
The Ugandan boys were relentless against their opponents as they matched them on every hole.
Livingstone College Ugandan golfers Ronald Otile and Joel Basalaine were the toast of their school as they emerged runners up in the Crowder-Dorsett Memorial Labour Day Four-Ball Golf Tournament at the Country Club of Salisbury early this week.
Despite losing in the final to William Little and Derek Lipe on hole No.17, the duo won the hearts of the fans according to Mike London of the Salisbury Post.
"Little and Lipe played crazy-good and they had to play crazy-good to stop Ugandans Ronald Otile and Joel Basalaine, the pride of Livingstone College. Otile and Basalaine who doffed their caps to loud cheers, as they accepted runner-up medals, won the hearts of the gallery," London stated.
Basalaine/Otile had shot 11-under for 17 holes but Little and Lipe birdied six of their 7 last holes to subdue the Livingstone College boys with a 2&1 winning score.
The Ugandan boys were relentless against their opponents as they matched them on every hole. Lipe and Little were 1-up after nine holes but Basalaine/Otile tied it on No.10.
Lipe and Little were relentless, birding the next five holes but still lost the 13th where the Ugandans eagled.
And when the Ugandans birdied No.16 they were a hole down but Otile missed his birdie on 17 as Little sunk his 12-footer putter to win the match-play duel.
"We were playing steady. We never carded a bogey and we never got behind, but we couldn't pull away. We would make birdie and they'd make birdie. Those guys were making every putt," Lipe told the Salisbury Post.
Basalaine said they were 6-under after ten holes. "On 15, I made a 35-foot putter for an eagle. That was the keyhole for us. They had a short putt for eagle but did not make it," Basalaine said
Otile attributes their almost faultless outing to regular practice.
"We did a lot of practice during the lockdown, so we had great putts. But it was our first time competing in the tournament. Every match was like climbing a mountain," Otile said.
"We beat our rivals that morning and in the afternoon finals, we met those guys that gave us a good challenge. Right now it is back to school, classes started on Thursday," Otile said.
The other Ugandan teams of Collins Ajidra/Emmanuel Jakisa and Daniel Baguma/Titus Okwong bowed out in the earlier rounds.
The Ugandan youngsters landed golf scholarships following their participation in the U.S Amateur Golf qualifiers at Pebble Beach course, last year.