Tyronne and Manori win Golf classic
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The regular Sponsorship of Tournaments at the Royal Colombo Golf Club makes ‘Golf ‘ worth playing! The week-end had a packed Golf Course at the Ridgeway Golf Links with over 250 players participating in a single Round Stableford Points format played on 2 days to accommodate the heavy number of entries.
There were several good scores returned and G.K.Sudath Kumar playing off a 12 Handicap continued his consistent form, from the Pin Fernando Trophy qualifying round the week before and entertained thoughts of winning Overall having scored 41 Stableford Points on day1. However it was not to be with Tyronne Weerakody masquerading at a high handicap returned with 42 points on day 2 to clinch the Overall winners Award. Rajeeve Rajapakse added further disappointment to Sudath when he won the B Division Prize on a better back nine to pip Sudath on the post!
The A Division Category was keenly contested and Srinath Rajapakse won with 37 points from Chandana Weerasinghe who scored 36 points and prevailed in Runner up position with a better ‘back nine holes’. Andy Anderson too had the highest score of 42 points to win the C Division comfortably from Ehantha Sirisena who scored 39 points. K.B. Ambanpola an extremely competent Golfer in his ‘Youthful ‘ days made a solid 40 points to win the Senior Category easily from a packed field, 3 points clear of the Runner-up D.Serasinghe on 37.
In the Masters Category Harrendra de Silva beat former RCGC Captain and SLGU President Shiran De Soysa on a count-back having tied on 39 points.
The Sri Lanka Squad Players Award was won by reigning National Champion Nadaraja Thangaraja with a level par Gross 71, two strokes ahead of the Runner-up M.Arumugam. Tyronne Weerakody’s 42 points had to out-do many ‘Men’ to Win the Overall Prize, though Manori Jayakodi scored 38 points which was just enough to edge out Anusha Senadhira who tied on the same score but lost the Overall Award on a count-back!. However compensation awaited Anusha with the solid 38 points wining the Ladies Silver Division 4 points clear from the vivacious lady Golfer Niloo Jayathilaka who managed 34 points. The Ladies Bronze Division was a near thing with Shyama Perera clinching the Prize from Kathy Twerenbold on a count back having tied on 34 points! The entertainment that followed the Prize Giving was a happy tribute to the proud Sponsorship and generous enjoyment all round.
Other News in Brief
Sri Lankan Thuhashini Selvaratnam continued to ‘Star’ in the State of Arizona, winning the ‘Player of the Year Award for the 11th consecutive year which is a record hard to break! This time round Tui (as she is known) scored a staggering 1822 points which was over 500 points clear of the second placed player. The AWGA (Arizona Women’s Golf Association) honoured Thuhashini by appointing her to the Board of Directors of the AWGA. Tui continues to play and is also the Head Golf Coach and Mentor at Xavier College Preparatory High School who having been the Regional Champions since 1997 and State Champs for the last 6 years. Thuhashini, an unsung-hero as a Sri Lankan Sportswoman still holds the record of being the youngest to win a National Title at 12 years of age!
Sad to Note
With the excitement of the Olympic Games and Champion Torch it is sad to note that the two Golfers who won Asian Games Silver Medals in Golf namely K.Nandasena Perera Beijing Games 1990 and R.A.Anura Rohana Seoul Games 2000 whose success was and is terrific in the context of the Sport and its development Globally has been left out of the Sri Lanka Olympic contingent.
Anura Rohana of course is still on the Asian Golf Tour along with Mithun Perera (Son of Nandasena) who performed with distinction in his debut year in the Indan PGA Tour finishing in the Top 10 for the 2011 Tour Year. Anura Rohana and Mithun have just returned from Indonesia after participating in two of the Asian Development Tour Tournaments where both players made the cut in both Tournaments and Anura Rohana finished 9th place in the latter, while Mithun had two Top 20 finishes. They take a break and will play in a Pro Tournament to be played in Sri Lanka shortly before having a crack at two Asian Tour Tournaments in August.
Off to Singapore
Amateur Champ Thangaraja now ranked 65th in the World Amateur Rankings and 7th in Asia leaves for Singapore on Sunday to participate in the Singapore National Amateur Golf Championship along with Sisira Kumara representing Sri Lanka.
Amateur Golf Championship
The Sri Lanka Golf Union is making elaborate plans to celebrate the 125th Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship to be played in Colombo in September. It is a worthy occasion to highlight the Sri Lankan Amateur Championship which is the second oldest Match-Play Championship in the World, attracting wide participation it is a great opportunity to show case Sri Lanka as an obvious Tourist/Golfing destination! Sponsors, 125 Year celebration won’t come again!
The ‘ETISALAT GOLF CLASSIC’ with lavish Sponsorship provided excellent Prizes to winners in several Categories including Awards to Seniors, Masters and Sri Lanka Squad Players too!
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