Singleton Challenge opens the world to Uganda’s golf family

Defending champions. Kesiime (left) and Kabasweka won in 2018. PHOTO BY E. CHICCO

Kampala- “When we sat down to start this tournament in 2017, we wanted to do something small,” that was Annette Nakiyaga’s honest submission about the genesis of the Entebbe Singleton Challenge.

The Head of Luxury Portfolio at Uganda Breweries Limited has been overwhelmed by the growth.

“The Singleton Challenge exceeded our expectations,” she said at the launch of the third edition of this Match-play club knockout championship at Serena Conference Center yesterday morning.

The Singleton Challenge is back with Season III with a bigger bang.
“We doubling investment from Shs300m to Shs600m,” Nakiyaga stated much to the delight of the audience at the press conference.

“It’s getting better just like whiskey as the economy and times change. The hype is already good as people started talking about the tournament last year.”
Unlike before, Singleton’s partners RwandAir will fly a lucky 12 best players to six different destinations.

“We have come back bigger,” RwandAir country manager Ivan Mugisha told this paper. “We used to provide two tickets but now we’ll offer trips to six destinations on our network,” he said.

These include; Dubai, London, Cape Town, Nairobi, Kigali and Mombasa.
This includes the best three pairings with overall winning pair set to have a fully-paid trip to the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic tournament in January next year.

“The Dubai Desert Classic is watched by many people and is such an attractive event with the big names there like Tiger Woods,” Entebbe club captain Edwin Tumusiime noted. Last year’s winning pairing Sheila Kesiime and Peace Kabasweka won a trip to the lavish Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai in November.

For their status, Kabasweka and Kesiime earn a bye at Saturday’s qualifying round to the first round of the championship.

At the par-71 course on Saturday, a field of more than 150 will partake to choose the best 60 pairs for the first round, according to Tumusiime.

To add to the 60 pairings, the defending champions will join in plus three lucky ones selected by the sponsors for the first round on February 16.

The ensuing rounds happen on March 9, April 13, May 11, June 8 and the grand finale on July 13 with all packaged with pomp from partners Dstv, new comers CBA Bank, Serena Hotels, Ekspresso, Pinnacle Security, Victoria Motors, Afrisafe and the side bets catered for by HTC.

The Tournament
Edition: 3rd
Participants: 128
Venue: Entebbe Golf Club
Partners:
Singleton, RwandAir, Serena Hotels,
Dstv, CBA Bank, Pinnacle Security, HTC,
Ekpresso, Victoria Motors, Afrisafe Risk
Partners, Street Club