Old boys golf – another new in Sri Lanka
Dons Golf and Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) has come out with a unique competition by launching the first-ever RCGC Inter-School Golf Championship which will be held next Saturday at the Ridgeways. The competition is a brainchild of Dons Golf, a group of golf enthusiasts from D.S. Senanayake College Colombo. The project chairman of the competition, Tyronne Weerakkody revealed that the competition will only feature past pupils of schools despite naming the competition as an Inter-School contest.
“The tournament will be open for members of RCGC but they will compete as teams representing their respective schools. This is part of an effort to promote golf among school children with the rivalry among schools picking up with the initiative. We believe this initiative will create more interest and it will help kick-start golf as a sport to be part of the extracurricular activities,” Weerakkody said.
(From left) Tyronne Weerakkody (Project Chairman), Nimal Priyaratne (RCGC Captain) and Malik Ahamadeen (President of Dons Golf) with the challenge trophy on offer. - Pic by Amila Gamage
The organisers headed by Malik Ahamadeen talked about their intentions to create an event with a difference with typical Sri Lankan big match style atmosphere and ambiance with live bands and other entertainment throughout the day amidst the tournament.
“This will also be a massive platform for awareness and networking, in order to understand as to how golf can be more affordable and be taken to school level where students can be trained and to compete. A Herculean effort went in to organising this competition in a very short period of less than a month, and I believe this will be the most looked-forward-to event in the golfing calendar in the future,” Ahamadeen stressed.
The tournament will feature 230 golfers representing 24 schools, including five girls’ schools, from all parts of the country. The teams will compete for the ‘RCGC Inter-School Golf Championship Challenge Trophy awarded by Dons Golf.
The tournament format will be a 5-ball Stableford with 2 Shotgun starts in the morning and afternoon. The competition will feature Ananda, Asian International School, Christian College Kotte, Dharmapala Pannipitiya, Trinity, Thurstan, Isipathana, Kingswood, Nalanda, Royal, S. Thomas’, St. Anthony’s, St. Benedict’s, St. Joseph’s, St. Peter’s, St. Sylvester’s, St. Thomas’ Prep, Wesley and hosts D.S. Senanayake colleges.
The girls’ schools in the competition are Bishops, Ladies, Visakha, St. Bridget’s and Holy Family convents. In addition to the 40 awards on offer for drivers and putters, golf tours, gift vouchers, hotel vouchers and a goody bag for each participant worth over Rs. 20,000 and gifts on offer. This is considered as the largest amount of awards and prizes to be given away at a single event held at the RCGC.
“We have been very fortunate to also incorporate a CSR project with the magnanimous support received from E-Wis Peripherals, donating a child incubator worth Rs. 650,000 to neighboring Castle Street Maternity Hospital which makes this event even more wholesome,” revealed Mihindu Chandrasoma, the Tournament Director.
Among the fleet of sponsors to incorporate the tournament are Hyundai Lanka, E-wis, Orient Finance, Orange Electric, MAS Holdings, Amante, Kingsbury Hotel, Uni-Tec Fire and Security Systems, ODEL, Unilever, Metropolitan, American Premium Water Systems, Pro Golf, Dream Holidays, Precious House, Euro Substrates, HSBC, Sampath Bank, Citi Bank, Nations Trust Bank and Red Bull.
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