Kagoro, Kariisa headline Uganda juniors crusade
Second Swing. Kagoro, a 16-year-old prodigy, has earned a second call-up to the national junior golf team. With a 1.8 handicap, she’s tipped for senior team stardom. PHOTOS/EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
Rising Stars. Uganda’s junior golf programme is on an upward trajectory, with promising talents like Keisha Kagoro and Shaka Kariisa flying the flag high. As they tee off at the All-Africa Junior Team Championship in Tunisia, their international exposure not only bolsters national pride but also signals a bright future for Ugandan golf on the global stage.
Keisha Wiltshire Kagoro has been summoned again for the national’s women’s junior golf team that will represent the country at the All Africa Junior Team Championship due in Tunisia in the last week of April.
Kagoro, who first swung a club aged 6, will be making a second appearance on the national junior team. She has also twice competed in the Uganda Ladies Golf Open on two separate occasions.
Earlier shows
Kagoro, a student at Balderstone Sports Institute in South Africa where she is studying along with another national junior team member Shaka Karisa, finished 20th in the 2023 Uganda Ladies Open as a 15-year-old. Last year, she was 12th.
With an index of 1.8, Kagoro is firmly on course to become a mainstay in the senior national golf team. Kagoro is a granddaughter of the legendary Steven Katwiremu who is the reigning Uganda Senior Open champion.
Other members of Uganda’s girls’ contingent to Tunisia are Rachael Laura Natukunda (9.9 index) and Elizabeth Danelle Kawalya (10.9) and Keisha Wiltshire Kagoro (1.8).
Accompanying the team will be the team manager Paul Habyarimana and the national team coach Flavia Namakula.
Boys charge
Meanwhile, for quite some time, Kariisa’s budding potential has been a public secret. Now, it is an official secret. The South Africa-based teenager, who turns 16 in early July, has been selected to represent Uganda at the upcoming All-Africa Junior Team Championship due in Tunisia later this month.
Secret’s Out. Kariisa, based in Johannesburg, is finally on the big stage. The +2.3 handicapper will lead Uganda’s boys’ charge. PHOTO/EDDIE CHICCO
Kariisa, whose index is +2.3, has seen his young career grow meteorically on the greens of Johannesburg, and his inclusion will no doubt enrich the quality of Team Uganda in the Tunisian capital. Kariisa was called alongside Peter Mayende, Anthony Otukei and 14-year-old Switzerland-based John Paul Rugumambaju. The latter plays at Golf & Country Club de Maison Blanche, which sits across the border of France but is under the Swiss and French federations.
While Kariisa is a UGC boy, Mayende and Otukei are children nurtured and raised at Lugazi Hills Golf & Country Club. The team is due to arrive in Tunisia on April 22 before enjoying a practice round the following day, when the opening ceremony and tournament-photo moment will be held. Anthony Otukei’s index is 1.8 while Mayende and Rugumambaju are 4.3 and 2.3 respectively.
Banking on form
The presence of Mayende and Otukei in the team will bolster the team’s confidence considering that they were members of the national golf team that stunned Kenya at Mt Kipipiri Golf Resort to win the prestigious Victoria Cup.
Kagoro going for it.
The top two countries in the competition represent Africa at the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan, and Uganda will be keen to return to the global stage. Uganda have previously made it to the junior Golf World Cup on two occasions.
The team’s travel and expenses to north Africa will be met by the National Council of Sports (NCS), who are the government’s regulatory body of sport in the Pearl of Africa -Uganda.
