“Tui” still continues to dominate in Arizona
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Thuhashini Selvaratnam is ‘AWGA (Arizona Women’s Golf Association) Player of the Year’ for an unprecedented 12th time. Thuhashini Selvaratnam, or “Tui”, as she is affectionately known, is a native of Sri Lanka, who came to dominate Arizona Women’s Golf in the first decade of the new millennium. During those years, Tui won a smashing 11 Arizona State Championships, including 3 Match Play Championships in 2005, 2008 and 2010, and was named ‘AWGA Player of the Year’ 11 successive years, from 2001 to 2011. As it has been noted from the Women’s professional ranks, it is difficult for a woman to maintain her level of competitiveness when the call of love and motherhood begin to beckon. It has been no different for Tui. Plus, like most Amateurs, Tui also has a full time job. Something had to give. So, beginning in 2012, Tui let her competitive Golf take a back seat, as she married and started a family. Tui now has a daughter of 3 years.
Tui’s points in the ’2016 Player of the Year’ rankings were earned when she qualified with partner Mari Miezwa for the US Women’s 4-Ball Championship, and included 3 Runner-up finishes at the Arizona Women’s 4-Ball Championship, the Arizona Women’s Amateur Match Play Championship and the Phoenix City Championship.
Tui started playing Golf at an early age, watching her mother in Sri Lanka. In 1999, at age 12, she had her name engraved in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Youngest Player to win a National Title, the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship. She has also won the Sri Lanka Ladies Amateur Championship on 4 occasions. Tui moved to the USA in 1995 to attend Arizona State University (ASU), where she assisted the Sun Devil Team to NCAA titles in 1995, 1997 and 1998, and was a two-time Pac-10 All Academic Honoree.
After graduating from ASU, Tui returned to Sri Lanka and won an astounding 10 National Championships in 7 months in Asia and UAE. She returned to Arizona and began competing in AWGA Championships in the fall of 2000,winning her inaugural event, the Arizona Women’s Stroke-play Championship, after leading the 3-day event from start to finish. In 2007, Tui led the first Arizona team to win the USGA (United States Golf Association) Women’s State Team Championship. Not only did Arizona dominate the other competitors to bring home the prize for the first time, Tui was the lowest individual scorer over the field, shooting a 3-day total 215, 1 under par. Tui has successfully competed in many other USGA National Championships. Her best individual finish to date was second place in the 2006 US Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.
Tui not only has a gift for Golf, she is a gift to Golf. She has served on the AWGA Board of Directors and was on the original task force to create the AWGA High School Girls’ Golf “Build-a-Team” programme. She also works full time for Xavier College Preparatory, as an Associate Athletic Director and Co-head Varsity Golf Coach. Tui’s many accomplishments on the Course, as well as her mentoring of young Golfers, demonstrates her commitment to the sport, and is an inspiration to those around her. All who know her, attest to her focused competitiveness, and her gracious attitude toward the game, and towards winning.