Nakalembe, Mwebaze stretch lead in Mug of Mugs

Consistency has been the key for the pacesetters Nakalembe and Mwebaze who have kept their hopes of winning the 2013 Entebbe Championship alive.

ENTEBBE

After years of punching below her weight, Irene Nakalembe has come out of her shell. The handicap 7 golfer, once nicknamed ‘The Namakula of Entebbe’, has put up several displays this term that suggest she destined for the international stage.

On Saturday, Nakalembe won her second Orange-Castle Lite Mug of the year after dominating the women’s category in the March event with 75 nett. That win helped stretch her 2013 Entebbe Championship lead to 240 points.

Nakalembe was recovering from a second-place finish in the third Castle Lite Entebbe Ladies Open that she lost to Tanzanian ace Iddi Madina by seven strokes. She edged her closest rival and defending champion Maxi Byenkya on countback. “Her game is good,” Entebbe club chairman Innocent Kihika commented about Nakalembe’s game. “She is consistent and if you notice she has grabbed a podium place at every tournament we have hosted.”

Nakalembe, who recently earned a call to the national amateur ladies team, won a fully connected Orange Internet Everywhere Modem for a year. In the men’s category, the race remained as tight as ever but it was 20-handicapper Ivan Mwebaze with a round of 68 nett that breezed away with the early honours after March.

First timers
It was Mwebaze’s first Mug title but the consistency and points picked in the earlier months of January and February helped him ascend to 245 points – 80 points more than his closest challengers. Mwebaze took home an Iphone 5 for his feat.

Former professional Peter Ssendawula had a good outing carding 68 nett while playing off scratch. Ssendawula, whose score was three-under-par, missed out on the March overall honours to Mwebaze on countback. There were also first time winners with Dan Muzaale (69 nett) and Andrew Banturaki (70 nett) scooping the men’s Group C Mugs.

indawula@ug.nationmedia.com