Trail-blazing Mithun calls for a national golf open
View(s):As a kid, Mithun Perera loved to play football but his dad’s influence meant he honed his latent skills with a putter rather than learning to bend it like Beckham.
He is thankful that he followed Nandasena Perera’s advice, for the first Sri Lankan golfer to earn a tour card on Asian Tour is presently going places ranked 37th on the Order of Merit having earned US$72,374 so far this year.
It is peanuts when compared to what leader Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand has won – US$711,074 – but the trail blazing Perera is not complaining as this is his rookie season and as long as he finishes in the top 60 this season he can continue to keep his tour card.
I bumped into Mithun at the Venetian Macau Open last week. Despite being backed by the American casino giants Sands, this tournament had only modest prize money of US$ 800,000 on offer nothing compared to some of the bigger events on the Asian Tour.
It is a tough life for those starting out, traveling to various tournaments around Asia trying to finish as high up and earning a few bucks. When you take into account the cost of flights and having to pay for your own hotel room and food, it can be a gamble which only pays off if you make the cut.
Mithun did so in Macau and went on to finish with a two-under-par total of 282 which ended in a joint-22nd place. It earned him around US$8,000 which after paying for costs – he tries to minimise it by sharing a room with Bangladeshi’s top golfer and best friend Mohammed Siddikur – will leave him with a nice little earner for the week’s work,It was Mithun’s 14th tournament this year. His best finish was runner-up at the US$ 300,000 Myanmar Open and he is hopeful that the day is not far away when he wins his first title on the Asian Tour.
The Asian Tour in its current form only came into existence in 2004 when it came under the control of the players themselves. Now in its 10th year, it has grown bigger and better, offering the cream of Asian golf the chance to hone their skills and qualify for the more lucrative European Tour, or the ultimate dream, the US PGA Tour where the likes of Tiger Woods prowls.
“I got my chance (to play on the Asian Tour) when I was invited for eight tournaments last year. I did so well, finishing in the top 50, that I won a tour card for this season,” explains the 26-year-old Mithun.
One of only four touring golf professionals from Sri Lanka – the others are Anura Rohana, K. Prabhakaran and N. Thangarajah – the country has a very small nucleus and its structure is rudimentary.
Mithun hopes all that will change and one of his first wishes is for a Sri Lanka Professional Golf Association to be set up. It is important, especially now that he is playing full time on the Asian Tour and thus increasing Sri Lanka’s profile wherever he goes.
“We need an association as there are a small but increasing number of professionals. We have four touring professionals but there are around 10 others and having a professional body will help us,” says Mithun.
But the biggest need is for Sri Lanka to host an Asian Tour. Doing so will give more opportunities for our golfers to earn invaluable experience of playing against the region’s best. If Sri Lanka has its own Open, it will get a number of automatic berths for its own players so others like Anura Rohana, who now has to depend on invitations like Mithun had to last year, can get the chance to compete.
“Playing full time on the Asian Tour is helping me improve my game immensely. I’m learning every day playing on different courses which are far better than any back home. But it would be great if we had our own national Open,” said Mithun.Sadly the facilities in Sri Lanka are not up to scratch. The Royal Colombo Golf Club which has a 135-year-old history is not up to championship standards. This was built in 1879, likewise the Nuwara Eliya course which was built 10 years later in 1889.Both are relics of our colonial history. And apparently it seems the two clubs are still living in the past although Mithun says huge improvements are being made to the greens in Colombo, one of which skirts his home – the 13th hole – where he was born and grew up.
A better bet might be to look at Kandy, or even the Air Force-built course at Trincomalee as possible venues for a national Open.
Golf caught the headlines back in 1990 when his dad Nandasena came close to winning a gold medal at the Asian Games in Beijing. Nandasena was tied with a Japanese golfer and the gold medal was decided on a play-off which he lost.
“I learned to play from my father and he still coaches me,” says Mithun who works for the Sri Lanka Ports Authority where he holds the rather grand title of ‘golfing ambassador’.
It is the much-needed support from his employers as well as a helping hand from members of the Royal Colombo Golf Club which has lifted Mithun up where he belongs – a touring professional in Asia.
Having tasted the life, Mithun hopes others can follow in his suit. He ticks off on his fingers what is needed for the next batch of young talent to come through – starting with a small local tour of around five tournaments a year where budding professionals can earn some money.
“If we had small events with prize money of US$ 10,000, it will be a massive incentive for the game. Right now no one wants to turn professional because it is not easy to make money. To do that you have either got to play on the Asian Tour which is hard to break into or, else on the Indian Tour.
There are plans to have three or four smaller Asian Development Tour events in Sri Lanka each offering a purse of US$ 100,000. But to wean youngsters away from cricket, golf will need smaller local events to start with.
“A US$ 10,000 event is small when compared to what is being offered on the Asian Tour for instance, but it is big money for us in Sri Lanka. If we had this, it will definitely spark a boom in golf,” says Mithun.
Last week he was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ernie Els, who finished joint-third. “I took up golf because of my father and I’m very thankful I did it and not play football or cricket,” he says.
Father and son have done Sri Lanka proud. But golf needs more than just family connections to prosper and Mithun is hopeful that now he is blazing a trail, others can follow easily.
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