All-Thai final at Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship
Nattawat Suvajanakorn
Chanachok Dejpirattanamongkol and Nattawat Suvajanakorn secured their places in the final of the 127th Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship, making the country’s major golfing event an all-Thai final for the first time in its history.
In the 18-hole semi-finals played yesterday at the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, Nattawat eased his way to the final showdown beating Indian Udayan Mane in the first semi-final 3/1, while Chanachok recovered well to prevent local star Navinda Ranga from progressing to the final. Chanachok
Astha Madan
played with great temperament to beat Ranga 2/1 in the second semi-final after trailing till the 17th hole. The two Thais will meet in the 36-hole final, which will tee off at 7.30am at the Nuwara Eliya Golf Course today.
In the Ladies’ final played yesterday, Indian golfer Tresa Malik made some exciting drives to beat fellow compatriot Astha Madan 3/2. The all-India 36-hole final which was played in two installments had all the excitement of the game as the eventual winner Malik dominated the morning session one up. But Madan showed great promise in the afternoon’s 18-hole session to challenge her rival. The second tee-off was halfway in favour of Madan but Malik regained her composure and took back the lead after the ninth hole. The advantage she gained from the morning’s session of play was highly critical for Malik in the second half of the final, which was played shortly after the Men’s second semi-final between Chanachok and Ranga.
Tresa Malik
On Friday the two 18-year-old young Indian lasses charmed everyone around them as they set themselves on top. Top-seed Malik started to completely overwhelmed Sri Lanka’s Michelle Michandani 8/6 in the first semi-final for the ladies while former national title holder Suwen Selvaratnam was helpless against highly-eager Madan, who wrapped up the second semi-final 6/5.
In the two men’s semi-final clashes played yesterday, Nattawat continued his excellent form and took an early lead against Mane. Apart from a brief lapse in his concentration, where Nattawat picked up his ball thinking that his putt had been conceded in the 11th hole which he lost on technical terms, he kept his composure to hold on to his lead. Despite a mini fightback by Udayan, Nattawat secured the win 3/1 to become the first golfer from Thailand to reach the final of the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship.
Chanachok Dejpirattanamongkol Pix by Amila Gamage
Chanachok on the other hand was given a tough time by Ranga. He had to contend with a fired up Ranga and a keen clan of local supporters to force his way back from 2 down after six holes. However the Sri Lankan could not cope with the pressure and gradually lost his grip on the game to lose 3/2.
Earlier on at the quarterfinal stage Nattawat completely outclassed Sri Lanka’s Vinod Kumar, thumping him by 7/5 while Indian top seed Mani thrashed Sri Lanka’s Arumugam, who had the potential to move forward, by 7/5. Sri Lanka’s hopes were still alive as Ranga beat Bangladesh’s Sajib Ali without much trouble 4/3. Chanachok outclassed Pakistan’s Salman Jehangir 4/2 in the fourth quarterfinal game. Other Sri Lankans to bow out from the first round of the knockout round were Chalitha Pushpika, Amarapadma, S. Sasinathan and K. Soundarajan. The 127th Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship is organised and conducted by the Sri Lanka Golf Union. Coincidently the hosts, the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.