Mithun Perera clinches RCGC Open in thriller sudden death
Mithun Perera led the RCGC Open field packed with all top Sri Lankan professionals and amateurs for 70 holes of the 72 hole, four round tournament and R A Anura Rohana the ever green professional Ranked # 2 in the PGTI 2017 and the Asian Games Seoul 2002 Silver Medalist drew level with the multiple winner on PGTI Mithun, to force a sudden death play-off for the Champion Title.
Mithun and Rohana tied on a creditable seven under par four round total Teed-off in the sudden-death play-off and halved the 1st extra hole in Par. As stipulated by the Tournament Committee the two leaders played the 8th hole as the 2nd extra hole and Mithun Perera pulled off a stunning birdie to clinch the RCGC Open Trophy and the top cash prize sponsored by Altair Holdings.
K. Prabagaran and N. Thangaraja the other two top Sri Lankan professionals snatched 3rd& 4th place respectively with a 70 & 73 in the final round. Pradeep Kumara playing in the last flight placed 3rd after three rounds, slipped to 6th place whilst Sachin De Silva the only amateur golfer in the top 5, secured 5th place. Altair Holdings sponsoring the RCGC Open for the second consecutive year ensured a grand Open Golf Tournament conducted by the Royal Colombo Golf Club, distributing Rs. 600,000.00 in the prize purse with a total of thirty one making the cut-off after two rounds.
Meanwhile, the RCGC Ladies Club Championship was played earlier in the week and 14-year-old Kayla Perera won her first Club Championship defeating veteran lady golfer Suwineetha Selvaratnam a multiple winner of Club Championships. In the Bronze division of the RCGC Championship another youngster Arika Wickramasinghe beat Kumari Herath in the final.
Results
- Men’s Open
-7 (277) R.A. Anura Rohana [68, 71, 71, 67]; Mithun Perera [67, 70, 70, 70] Tied/Play-off
- RCGC Open 2018 Champion: Mithun Perera
- Runner-up: R.A. Anura Rohana
- 3rd Place: K. Prabagaran 285 [69, 73, 73, 70]
- 4th: N. Thangaraja 286 [71, 73, 69, 73]
- 5th: Sachin de Silva 287 [70, 70, 72, 75]
- 6th: G.M. Pradeep Kumara 288 [73, 70, 69, 76]
- Jt 7th: Chanaka Perera 291 [71, 74, 75, 71]
B.A. Sanjeewa [75, 69, 73, 74]
- 9th: B.G. Lalith Kumara 293 [78, 73, 69, 73]
- Jt 10th: J.M.D. Indika [69, 76, 79, 70]
Vijitha Bandara [70, 72, 76, 76]
RCGC Ladies Club Championship 2018
- Winner: Kayla Perera
- Runner up: Suwineetha Selvaratnam
Bronze Division
- Winner: Arika Wickramasinghe
- Runner-up: Kumari Herath