By Frank Kamuntu
Kampala April 2, 2024: It was a circle of pars, tees, birdie, and bogey as 152 golfers stormed Uganda Golf Club (UGC) in Kitante to conquer the much-anticipated Stanbic Monthly Mug Challenge for March; Bob Drani shrugged off the competition to take victory with 63 nets.
Speaking shortly after being announced as the overall player, Drani Bob attributed his triumph to his skill set and the company of gallant men he played with.
“Today is a great day, it’s been a while without winning but today, here I’m leading the entire month. This month’s Mug challenge was very inspiring and gave him the zeal to keep pushing on both on the frontline and backline,” Drani said adding that even those still having awards drought, the rain will come one.
For the last five years, Stanbic Uganda has sponsored the Monthly Mug at UGC, and all the face offs will go on until 21 December 2024 when the last Mug of Mugs will be happening.
Unlike the previous sessions, this month’s challenge attracted droves of seasoned leaders and civil servants from retirement, with players braving the darkness as action raged on all day.
Israel Arinaitwe, the Stanbic Bank head of Personal Banking praised the unmatched level of enthusiasm and great skills displayed at the course from teeing time to the last hole.
“As a number one private bank, we are fully invested in powering the passions of our clients, such as the sport of golf. We invest in sports generally and for golf specifically because it promotes physical fitness, creates business networking opportunities, and nurtures talent, all of which are not far off from our purpose of driving Uganda’s growth,” said Arinaitwe.
Charles Kareba, a veteran golfer, and member of the Uganda Golf Club Board of Trustees, described the monthly Mug challenge as the bread and butter of any amateur golf club in the world.
“This is the only competition where we people play thirteen times in a year because we have then twelve mugs, and then the one we call Mug of Mugs. In the Mug of Mugs, all the winners come together to establish the overall winner. I call it the bread and butter because its precious in terms of revenue, the game of golf and in terms of the social side,” Kareba said.
Kareba said seeing partners like Stanbic investing in golf year in and year out is a great feeling, everything on the course emanates from the Monthly Mug Challenge.
“The corporates can give you a competition once a year, the open happens once a year too, therefore we hold the monthly mug in high esteem because it gives us an opportunity to compete and get motivated.
And if you have never won a monthly mug, you don’t talk among golfers that you have achieved much. You could have won the Uganda Open but without any Mug, in the tradition of golf, the mug is the competition to die for,” Kareba said.
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