Local athletes must learn from Mayo’s golf story

A lot has happened since this column took a fortnight-long hiatus.

To say that your columnist was spoiled for choice when it came to cherry-picking what to write about after the brief pause is an understatement.

With all that is going on at the 13th African Games in the Ghanaian capital of Accra (and it is not just a lot, but also consequential), some readers (or is it the vast majority?) might balk at my choice to revisit Ronald Rugumayo's success story. But I will, anyway.

Just to recap, Rugumayo's exploits at the 2024 Magical Kenya Open in Nairobi culminated in the 31-year-old golfer being the first Ugandan to play in the money brackets on the DP World Tour.

This is no small beer. Most importantly, though, it only tells half of the story.

In Nairobi, Rugumayo alias Mayo succeeded in alchemising innate strength and moral rectitude into a feelgood glow. It is not everyday that a Ugandan athlete makes such attributes indispensable to their trade.

Mayo is, however, not your average Ugandan athlete. His feat in Nairobi, in all its richness, emotional highs and lows, gives one a sense of an iron will to succeed that to date remains undimmed. 

Whenever I interview Mayo I come away with the belief that he is genuinely determined to do better.

Push the envelope. This is not contingent on his place on the leaderboard.

Challenging himself is in many respects his default position. Such perseverance has given rise to one of the most astonishing rags-to-riches stories in Ugandan sport.

To be clear, Mayo was not born into riches and abundance. His first golf ball was—believe it or not—an avocado seed. He also used a cassava stick as his first-ever golf club.

In a country where golf is largely taken as a pastime for the wealthy, Mayo defied the odds by blending seamlessly into members-only clubs.

Patience and time were required for this outcome to be actualised besides the goodwill of rich club members.

Watching and reading about how Mayo's feats at the 2024 Magical Kenya Open were greeted by Ugandans across the wealth divide was downright fulfilling.

It showed that Uganda can be a meritocracy after all. Everyone with skill and imagination can reach their apogee. At least on the golf course, anyway. 

While the birdie putt that got Mayo into the money brackets in Nairobi took what seemed like eternity before dropping in, it was fitting that his short game is what got him across the finish line.

In a previous interview, Mayo once told your columnist that “my weapon is around the greens.” 

And, indeed, once he gets his putter going, Mayo can be quite a handful. Just ask Ronald Otile who was scorched during the 76th staging of the Uganda Golf Open Championship.

Still an amateur golfer then, Mayo put on such a putting clinic during a sudden death playoff of that memorable 2017 event. 

Successive birdies on holes 12, 17, and 18—the latter two secured with astonishing hole-outs—left Mayo head and shoulders above Otile. With hindsight, surprise should have been the last reaction.

The 69 Mayo took to the clubhouse during the penultimate round had offered a measure of just how good his putting was. 

Make no mistake, Mayo is still a work in progress. He will undoubtedly be the first to admit this.

As well as the degree of equanimity he showcases while on the golf course, the lanky golfer continues to give every impression of being unfailingly modest and understated. Ugandan athletes could do well borrowing a thing or two from him.