No whistles or music were playing on the 18th hole of the Johnnie Walker Uganda Seniors Open.
The gallery was also not as sizeable considering that the tournament concluded on a Sunday morning, three days after it teed off on Friday morning.
In the end, the last man standing was Elijah Luutu, who held off a spirited fight from Joseph Bagabo.
Having created daylight between himself and the rest after a magnificent round of 72 on the opening day, Luutu struggled to replicate his Friday form on Saturday.
By the time play was called off owing to poor visibility after the 15th green on Saturday, Bagabo had extraordinarily pulled himself to within two strokes of the leader.
It was a heroic effort considering that Luutu started the day with an eight-stroke advantage over Bagabo.
But it wasn’t only Bagabo piling the pressure on Luutu; Hassan Pirani hurled his name into contention and teed off on the 16th on Sunday morning one shot behind the leader.
It was a pressure group in the true sense of the word. But Pirani all but dropped out of contention after going out of bounds on the resumption of play.
On 17, Bagabo, who had picked a stroke on Luutu with a par on the previous hole, nailed a birdie to assume joint leadership after his rival settled for par.
By this time, it had turned into squeaky-bum-time with Bagabo clearly in the ascendancy and Luutu feeling the heat from an unrelenting rival. “I didn’t feel the pressure,” Luutu said afterwards.
Bagabo missed the fairway on the 18th while Luutu planted his ball in the most desirable position.
For the approach, Luutu found the green while Bagabo went out of bounds trying to curve the ball into the green from the left of the rough.
Although he recomposed himself to save a hard double-bogey, Luutu’s par was enough to secure him the cushion he needed to win the Seniors Open for the first time.
“This trophy ranks top of what I have won in the game,” a delighted Luutu noted. “I never thought I could even participate in the Seniors tournament.”
The Johnnie Walker Uganda Senior Ladies Open was meanwhile retained by Catherine Pavie. She beat Rose Azuba by two strokes.
This week, focus turns to the 2026 Johnnie Walker Uganda Amateurs Open Golf Championship.
