Close to 200 amateurs golfers from around the country and from Rwanda are expected to grace the inaugural 18 hole Garuga Golf Club in Kihiihi, Kanungu district in South Western Uganda from Friday to Saturday when they tee off in the 3rd edition of the Ngorogoza Memorial Golf Open tournament.
The two day tournament was officially launched by the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Tourism Board Stephen Asiimwe, the group chairman and CEO Garuga Golf Club Musinguzi Garuga and the captain of Kabale Golf Club JB Tumusiime at the UTB offices in Kololo.
“We are glad to be part this tournament as we build the promotion of tourism and golf at the same time,” Asiimwe stated at the press conference. “The more we cover tourism the more the economy grows. It also increases the income in the country and the tourism industry and golf and tourism are a perfect match to increase the number of tourists coming to play a round of golf and also spending time visiting our natural resources like the game parks and other attractions.”
The par 71 golf course is one of the most challenging in the country and the longest covering 7,189 yards and was designed by Engineers Gad Musasizi and Charles Katambira, who also designed the Palm Valley Golf and Country Club course, off Entebbe road.
The tournament is in honour of the late Paul Ngorogoza who was a prominent visionary and a son of Kigezi. He is renowned for resettling Bakiga in Tooro, Ankole and Bunyoro kingdoms following the population explosion back home.
“For us at the Garuga Golf Club, this is a dream come true. We have built a golf club and Savannah Resort Hotel and an airstrip in Kihiihi. We believe this will boost tourism, create jobs and bolster the economy of the region and the country,” Garuga said. “We want people to fly in, enjoy the game of golf and then sample the countryside.”
The event that has been incorporated onto the Uganda Golf Union will have the Professionals from Uganda and Rwanda will tee off for the tournament on Friday with a kitty of 10 million that has been offered by the sponsor that is Garuga Golf Club while the gross players will battle for honours on Saturday last year’s winner was Patrick Mugisha, from Entebbe Club.
“We are extremely excited about the new course and we are extremely honoured that the event is being hosted by Garuga Golf Club in Kihiihi it shows that Musinguzi Garuga is promoting the game of golf here locally and internationally, but at the same time he has revived golf in Kabale and in this region which is good for this country,” JB Tumusiime, the captain of Kabale Golf Club and Uganda Golf Union executive member said. ” We are glad to say he has invested alot in his new club and also to Kabale golf club and that alone has developed the game in that area.”
The most challenging holes according to the designers of the course are Hole 5 which is a par 3 which has a hazard over a water pond and hole 13 which is also a par 3 with an Island Green nicked named “Bad News 13”.