Ugandan Ronald Rugumayo has got all the attention at Entebbe Club heading into the final round after he shot a brilliant round of seven-under 67 to assume a three-shot lead of the 2026 Pearl of Africa (POA) Series at Entebbe Club.
In pursuit of the biggest share of a $20000 (Shs78m) kitty over 54 holes, Rugumayo charged three places up the leaderboard on Day Two with a spectacular round and he sits admirably atop the Sunshine Development Tour (SDT) event at -11 overall.
Indeed, the man from Tooro Golf Club is in form. In the past two weeks, he won the Uganda Professionals Golf Open title at Uganda Golf Club (UGC) in Kitante and last week, he celebrated a seven-shot margin of victory at -16 overall to win the MTN Pro Tee Series at Entebbe.
On Friday, Rugumayo simply did a replica of his last week, where he fired closing rounds of 63 and 64 at the par-71 Entebbe course.
Whereas he started on the back nine and conceded a bogey on the par-4 Hole No.10, the score seemed to have been a stone into a beehive. Rugumayo charged to yield four pars before he eagled the par-5 Hole No.15 and then struck a birdie on the 18th green.
“I misjudged my distance on No.10, it was supposed to be a 9-iron, I took an 8-iron and hit it in the wrong place. I had a terrible shot on No.11. I changed my game plan,” he told the media after his round at the club house.
At the front nine, Rugumayo birdied the first four of the five holes except the descending par-4 Hole No.3 nearest to the Entebbe zoo fence.
He finished his round with six birdies, including the last one at the par-4 Hole No.9 below the halfway house pod. After a combined 19 pars, 11 birdies, two eagles and four bogeys over 36 holes, Rugumayo faces a final day pressure group on Saturday which comprises Nigerian Godwin Okoko and South African Slade Pickering.
“I wouldn’t say there is pressure, I would say it only reminds me that the tournament matters not only to myself but to my people but everyone who looks at me in the country,” he told Under Par’s content lead Timothy Okiror.
A fortnight ago, Okoko was the overnight leader with a one-shot advantage as the field teed-off the final round of the Uganda Pros Open at Kitante, only for Rugumayo to strip him of that glory and take home the biggest share of the Shs150m kitty.
At Entebbe where the leaderboard is suddenly changing after every stroke, Okoko is only one of the only three men to be in the top 10 for the first two days, others being Rugumayo and the US-based Willy Deus Kitata.
Okoko on Friday shot three-under 68 comprising three birdies, two bogeys and an eagle on the 18th to move to an aggregate -8 while Pickering from Pecanwood Golf Estate improved on his Day One round by a shot, with a round of 67. That included three birdies, a bogey and a difficult eagle on the par-4 Hole No.13 and Pickering is at -7.
In fourth place is Kenyan Greg Snow at -6 after he shot five-under 66 on the Moving Day while Tanzanian Nuru Mollel, who fired 67, Englishman Matt Millar and Kitata who played level-par, are all tied fifth at -5 overall.
Soweto Golf Club’s Musiwalo Nethunzwi made a 10-stroke improvement to sink a bogey-free round of 64 and ably moved to tie in eighth place at -4, in the company of Sean Cronje and Malawian Paul Adams.
The tournament cut was at +2 and of the 34 men who made it, there were 15 Ugandans including three amateurs Joseph Cwinyaai, Antony Otukei and Reagan Akena.
DAY TWO LEADERBOARD
1 Ronald Rugumayo (UGA) 67 64 131 -11
2 Godwin Okoko (NGR) 66 68 134 -8
3 Slade Pickering (RSA) 68 67 135 -7
4 Greg Snow (KEN) 70 66 136 -6
T5 Nuru Mollel (TAZ) 70 67 137 -5
T5 Matt Millar (ENG) 68 69 137 -5
T5 Willy Deus Kitata (UGA) 66 71 137 -5
T8 Musiwalo Nethunzwi (RSA) 74 64 138 -4
T8 Sean Cronje (RSA) 70 68 138 -4
T8 Paul Adams (MAW) 71 67 138 -4