Nsubuga qualified for the 2024 U.S. Amateur at Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina, becoming the first Ugandan in history to qualify for the U.S. Amateur.

On Monday, 12 August, early on a perfect, windless Minnesota afternoon, Godfrey Nsubuga stepped onto the 1st tee at Hazeltine National Golf Club ready to play the biggest tournament of his life, and immediately hit a snap-hook. It swooped left and landed feet from the waist-high fescue.

His fill-in caddie, Parker Etzel, a member of the South Dakota men’s golf team, jumped into action, trying to keep his man positive, to keep his head right, to convince him this would be an easy one to shake off. But there was no need. He’s like the most positive, energetic dude ever.

In the first round of the 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship, Nsubuga smiled, fist-pumped, hit driver off the deck, laughed, sang Ed Sheeran and smiled some more. His driver, 3-wood and 4-iron were borrowed from Hazeltine members. His bag belonged to a friend. The 24-year-old Nsubuga made history. He became the first player to represent Uganda in the most prestigious amateur golf event in the world.

Nsubuga flew to the United States with plenty of ambition, but no golf clubs. When he arrived in the United States, he ordered used clubs online, filling out his bag with Callaway irons, Taylormade wedges, a Ping putter, and Srixon fairway metals. He had never played Callaway irons. He used a Srixon set back home; but it didn’t take long for Nsubuga to adjust. In his first tournament on American soil, U.S. Amateur final qualifying, Nsubuga made five birdies and two bogeys en-route to qualifying for the U.S. Amateur.
On July 17th, Ugandan amateur Godfrey Nsubuga qualified for the 2024 U.S. Amateur at Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Nsubuga fired a three-under-par 68 to finish T7 and grab one of 13 available qualifying spots, becoming the first Ugandan to qualify for the U.S. Amateur.

Qualifying alongside top amateurs like Blades Brown and Jackson Herrington, Nsubuga did so under unconventional circumstances. It wasn’t just that it was his first USGA qualifier nor that he had never played a tournament on Bermuda grass; rather this was his first tournament in the United States.

The 124th U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine will be just the third tournament in the United States for Nsubuga, an incoming student at Winston-Salem State University. After Final Qualifying in July, Nsubuga played in the Pacific Coast Amateur, finishing 79th.

In June 2023, he was not ranked in the top 3,000 in the men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, but a runner-up finish at the Coast Open Barry Cup in July helped him leap to 625th. He has played in only two events this year that count toward his ranking; missing the cut at the Africa Amateur Championship in February and finishing 79th at the Pacific Coast Amateur in July becoming the 217^th player in rankings.

Nsubuga to U.S.

Charles Penny II was hired as the Winston-Salem State University men’s golf coach in 2021, and soon after, he received an unexpected call from a Ugandan native in the States who tipped him off on a player to put on his radar. Penny first chatted with Nsubuga in 2021 but didn’t get a chance to meet him in person until January 2024 when he enrolled in school. He has been able to practice but due to hiccups with the enrollment process, he has yet to be cleared to play by the NCAA. They are hopeful that it will happen in January 2025.

“Nsubuga’s ability to stay positive and to always have an attitude of gratitude will take him far. You don’t really hear him ever get down. In everything he does, he is happy -even in moments of adversity. He is a model for young men trying to play good golf. It is infectious,” remarked Penny.

“Nsubuga is the ultimate feel player, someone with great hands and a natural feeling similar to Seve Ballesteros. His strength is his feel. He knows where the ball is going to go based on doing different things with his hands. He can hit the ball high and low and can juice a 7-iron to get more roll or take it back,” Rose Trillium, the Director of Instruction at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville commented.

Early Days

His rise to stardom didn’t happen overnight. It started in Uganda, with golf clubs made out of Eucalyptus trees, with little coaching and on a golf course that was actually just a soccer pitch.

Nsubuga grew up in Lugazi, 20km east of Kampala City. Nsubuga and his friends started out playing soccer, but eventually golf grew on them. They would cut branches from eucalyptus trees and shape them into golf clubs. They had to make their own golf balls too. When the soccer game was over on the nearby pitch, they would turn it into their golf course, setting up holes ranging from 25 to 50 yards.

The towering golfer got his start as a ball spotter at Mehta Golf Club, now renamed Lugazi Hills Golf & Country Club, moved up to caddie and when he was 15, two years after he received his first set of golf clubs, he joined the junior national team that allowed him to play for free. That opened the door for more tournaments, which meant better competition and more world ranking points.

“Caddying would help us a lot because we could practice; and through caddying we would get some money to play tournaments. Eventually, golfers started to take notice,” explained Nsubuga.

Nsubuga played his first competitive golf tournament when he was 14, playing with a 5-club junior set he shared with other kids in the program. He continued playing tournament golf and joined the Ugandan Junior National Team in 2017, when he was 17.

Membership on the Junior National Team allowed Nsubuga to play with fewer concerns about the sustainability of his young playing career. He represented Uganda in the All-Africa Junior Championship and the Africa Junior Championship. The following year, he joined the Senior National Team, which allowed his game to flourish with access to more resources.

Nsubuga earned medalist honors in his first tournament on the Ugandan National Team. His finish earned him an invite to the African Amateur, where he led the tournament after a first-round even par; the first Ugandan to do so. He finished 16th that week, a launch pad for his future. However, his breakthrough in golf came last year, as he continued to find success in Africa. With qualifying for the U.S. Amateur separated into two days of local and final qualifying, it was unfeasible for Nsubuga to earn a spot through local qualifying. Instead, his supporters urged him to reach the top 600 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), which would provide an exemption into final qualifying.