When Hawa Wanyeche made her way to the opening tee on Saturday morning, she knew she had a mountain to climb. Four shots adrift of leader Keisha Kagoro, Wanyeche needed a minor miracle.
The Tanzanian had never won the Uganda Open despite numerous trips to Kampala, but a dramatic turn of events on the 18th hole allowed her to sneak past unnoticed to claim the prestigious trophy.
The story of the day was meant to be Kagoro. The teenager, yet to turn 18, was the favourite of a huge gallery but struggled with her putter all day.
A combination of nerves and overzealousness on the greens cost her on the 6th hole, where she bogeyed from birdie territory, as well as on the 11th, 12th, and 17th.
Despite monster par scrambles on the 13th and 15th holes, Kagoro’s putting deserted her for most of the day. Had she converted the birdie on the 16th after her glorious approach hit the flagstick, the story would have been different.
However, her poorest decision of the day was to attack a tricky flag on the final hole after pulling her tee shot into the trees. With Peace Kabasweka, with whom she was tied, in the bunker, a safer shot to the green would have sufficed.
But she attempted a Hail Mary from the rough and landed in the rear bunker, from where she failed the up-and-down on her first attempt.
If Kagoro is sore, Kabasweka will be seething at how she failed to win the Open from the distance of a gimme. Kabasweka had done a fabulous job of chasing Kagoro from the front to set up a scintillating finish.
But she bogeyed the 17th hole and then three-putted inexplicably on the 18th when it appeared as though the Open was already in her grasp.
“I had someone whistle three times, and it distracted my rhythm,” a crestfallen Kabasweka explained afterwards.
With the gallery concentrating on the duel between Kabasweka and Kagoro, not many noticed that Wanyeche was quietly closing in on both.
She birdied the 13th, and despite dropping a shot on the 16th, she held on for pars on 17 and 18 that proved priceless. It was a cruel finish for the Ugandan pair and the partisan gallery, but that is the game of golf: unpredictable.
