Team Uganda fighting for bronze on final day

KAMPALA.

Team Uganda will attempt to leave Zimbabwe with a respectable finish after failing to secure the ticket to Japan at the 19th All-Africa Junior Golf Championships.

The representative quartet from Kampala returned a collective Day Three score of 237 to tally 695 gross but fell from third to fourth on the 12-team leaderboard at the Royal Harare Club.

Coach Amos Kamya and team manager Sam Kacungira watched helplessly as David Kamulindwa, Dennis Asaba, Joel Basalaine and Herman ‘Deco’ Mutebi were leaped over by Reunion Island.

The latter nation carded a collective score of 13-over on the day to sit six strokes ahead of Uganda. “The boys were overwhelmed by the South Africans and Zimbabweans in the pressure groups,” Kacungira told this paper yesterday. “It appears they veered off the game plan we had shared.”

Leaders South Africa returned four-under spurred by Lucas Filippi to move five-under overall whereas Zimbabwe’s eight-over ensured the two nations nearly sealed qualification to the Junior Golf World Cup slated for Japan.

Uganda will approach the final round of action at the par-72 course today with a target of at least securing bronze. “With Japan out of the picture, our target tomorrow (today) is bronze and we are six strokes away. We can do it.” Kacungira added.

Of the Ugandan lot, only Mutebi improved to deliver his best round of four-over 76 but remained at +27 overall.

The country’s best Kamulindwa further stuttered with a round of 80, dropping to +11. Both Basalaine and Asaba are tied on +21 after respective rounds of 81 and 82.

ALL-AFRICA JUNIOR event

Day Three Leaderboard
South Africa -5 +4 -4 643
Zimbabwe -4 +5 +8 657
Reunion +12 +16 +13 689
Uganda +13 +13 +21 695
Morocco +13 +25 +17 703
Zambia +22 +37 +25 732
Kenya +24 +32 +37 741
Mauritius +36 +35 +34 753
Tunisia +19 +39 +51 757
Malawi +30 +41 +43 503
Namibia +42 +40 +32 762
Botswana +52 +80 +94 904
Day Two Leaderboard
D. Kamulindwa +11 69 78 80
J. Basalaine +21 78 78 81
D. Asaba +21 82 73 82
D. Mutebi +27 82 85 76
*Top three scores count towards country’s tally