After three rounds of play, the Johnnie Walker Uganda Professionals Open Golf Championship, happening at Lugazi Hills Golf and Country Club, has had three different leaders.
Johnnie Walker influencer Ronald Rugumayo led day one with a 4-under 67. Day two saw six-time winner Dismas Indiza from Kenya take the lead off a gross score of 141. And now, ahead of the Saturday final round, Rwanda’s Celestine Nsanzuwera is ahead with an aggregate score of 207, two shots clear of Indiza.
On a Friday that was affected by a heavy afternoon downpour, Nsanzuwera’s impressive 6-under 65 earned him the top spot. His card featured four straight birdies in the final four holes (15–18). He also had two straight birdies on holes 11 and 12. In the front nine, he birdied the second and fifth. He only dropped two shots.
“Today (Friday), I played well. I want to end strong and win it,” a confident Nsanzuwera said ahead of the finale.
Runner-up to Dayne Moore at Entebbe Club last year, the in-form Nsanzuwera is performing at peak condition. Last week, he won the Sunshine Development Tour tournament at his Kigali home course in dominant fashion, and after sneaking to the top of the leaderboard, he will be in buoyant mood going into Saturday’s 11:30 am tee-off for the lion’s share of the Shs150m Johnnie Walker Uganda Professionals Open Golf Championship kitty.
The pressure group, teeing off at 11:30 am, will feature Nsanzuwera (207) , Mary Louise Simkims Golf Club’s gifted youngster Marvin Max Kibirige (211), two-time winner Robson Chinhoi (210) from Zimbabwe, and the evergreen Mzee wa kazi Dismas Indiza (209).
But Nsanzuwera will have work to do. Indiza, the record winner of the event, is a wily old customer who knows in minute detail what it takes to chase on day four. He thrives in moments like this and will be waiting to pounce if Nsanzuwera suffers a slip.
Meanwhile, no one can write off Zimbabwe’s Robson Chinhoi. The 31 he played on the back nine on Friday was a reminder of what a competitive golfer he is, and he will be right in the mix on Saturday.
Kibirige shot seven birdies on the third day, a feat which should typically be applauded. But he faded late on with bogeys on the 15th and 18th that diminished what should have been a very good card. As the lone Ugandan in the main group, he will enjoy a vociferous following from the gallery, which will be hoping that the title and prize money stay home.
Rugumayo, one of the home crowd’s favorites, will tee off in the second-last group of the Johnnie Walker professionals event, where he will play alongside Kenya’s Njoroge Kibugu and Uganda national team golfer Ibrahim Ssemakula, an amateur. Trailing the leader by six strokes, Rugumayo, the latest Walker in town, will have to play a mind-shattering round to have an outside chance of winning his first Open title as a professional.
The 2025 Johnnie Walker Uganda Open Golf Championship is sponsored by Absa Bank Uganda, Aquafina, Isuzu MAC East Africa, Uganda Tourism Board, Medisell Uganda, NBS Sport, and MTN MoMo.
