Teenage champion golfer Kayla’s balancing act
Kayla Perera is focused like a professional
Two-time Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) Ladies champion Kayla Perera is a talented teenager who balances both education and sports almost to perfection to achieve her ultimate goal of becoming a golf professional.
As a student of Ladies College, she prioritised the G.C.E. (O/L) examination last year, even making a conscious decision to forego participating in the South Asian Games (SAG) in December but is now focusing more on her golf career after moving to UCL (Universal College of Lanka) where she follows a Foundation Course in International Business.
“Last year I had to do my O/Ls so I gave priority to my school work just for the duration for year which is why although I was selected to go for the SAF Games (SAG) I couldn’t go. I didn’t want to do that because I needed to prioritise my studies. I needed to balance both so I chose to do O/Ls instead of going for the SAF Games,” said 17-year-old Kayla who obtained 4 As 3 Bs and 2 Cs.
“Now I am focusing on golf. Even though I am doing the foundation course, the school is very flexible. They are giving room for my golf. They are very supportive. They let me take leave and help me to catch up when I miss work. That is how I will be able to focus more on my golf this year,” said Kayla who could not devote her time for practices last year because her focus was O/Ls.
Nonetheless, she displayed her precocious talent by finishing runner-up to Taniya Balasuriya in the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship 2018 and Sri Lanka Ladies Amateur Golf Championship held in January 2019 without much practice. She won the Sri Lanka Regional Junior Open Golf Championship in Hambantota in March and HNB Junior Open Golf Championship in August where she shot her lowest score ever of four-under 68. “It was my best round in a tournament and one shot away from beating the RCGC course record,” she said. She also competed in the US Kids Golf European Championship in Scotland in May last year.
Kayla has been on a roll since winning the Girls’ Under 18 title at the US Kids Golf World Championship in December in Johor Bahru, Malaysia after being runner-up in 2018. She was runner-up at the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship 2019 and US Kids Golf Indian Championship in Gurugram, India in January, represented Sri Lanka that was placed second in the Team event at the inaugural Pakistan International Ladies Amateur Golf Championship in Lahore in February, runner-up at the Sri Lanka Regional Junior Open Golf Championship (Hambantota) in March before winning the first tournament after the coronavirus outbreak.
She beat Anouk Chitty 2&1 in the final to win the Ladies RCGC Club Championship for the second time having first won the RCGC title in 2018. “In 2017 I was runner up in the RCGC tournament because I didn’t have enough experience in this game format and lost to Anouk Chitty whom I beat this year to win the title,” said Kayla who did not play in this event last year. She won the semifinals by quite a big margin 6&4 relishing the Matchplay format.
“It’s a very different game, a different mindset. I can go all out. I can attack. It’s a very interesting game. It becomes like a different game of golf. That’s my favourite format. Even if you lose one hole you still have every other hole to catch up. Less number of shots matters only against your opponent. It doesn’t matter against rest of the field. At the end of the day they don’t look at your score. They don’t add up your entire score. You win if you beat your opponent on that day,” she explained like a veteran.
Her best match was couple of years ago in the P&S Sri Lanka Junior Matchplay Championship final against Taniya Balasuriya in 2018.
“Both of us played absolutely brilliant golf. That has been the best matchplay of my life. I think of hers as well. It was a fantastic match,” she recalled.
Kayla with her proud parents Dinoo de Mel and Shanaka Perera
However, it has not been smooth sailing on the green for young Kayla during the lockdown period without her Malaysian-based South African coach Chris Holden.
“I was struggling because my coach was based overseas and I could not meet him. So I made a decision to go to club pro Jehan (de Saram) for a month. He really got me out of a rough spot. He helped me out of a lot. We worked on the game together. Eventually he got it where I needed to be,” she said.
Her success has also been a result of hard work and the backing of her parents Dinoo de Mel and Shanaka Perera, both golfers who lost to the eventual winners in the semifinals in their divisions at the RCGC tournament.
“It’s just been hard work. My parents and family helped me get to this spot. Last year it was difficult to balance golf and studies. I had to constantly choose between the two. At the beginning of the year I kept choosing golf. Towards the end during OL time I realised I can’t pick golf. I had to choose studies which meant I had to lose tournaments which I generally would win which was tough. I had to make lot of sacrifices because of school. This year I made a comeback thanks to UCL because teachers have been very understanding,” said Kayla who plans to study psychology.
“That will always be an inspiration. I do have a back-up with psychology. Right now my aim is just becoming more consistent, stronger and just making my game better. International tournaments got cancelled and lot of my plans just went away. I can’t really look too far into the future. Looking at end of year. From then figure out what the situation is and how I can do things because I can’t go to any country to play tournaments. It depends on how world situation,” she said talking about her future plans.
Hailing from a golfing family, it was her grandfather Lal de Mel who gave her the cue to play golf. Having played tennis, table tennis, indulged in swimming, athletics in school, she decided to focus on golf seriously when she was seven or eight years old again prioritising her life.
“I became very interested in golf. Eventually I decided this was the sport I wanted to do and pursue seriously. I stopped other sports and focused on golf. Both my parents play golf, that’s why I started. Golf is like a family sport. I had to beat my cousin Kaya Daluwatte in the semifinal (RCGC tournament),” said Kayla who first began playing for fun but is looking at turning pro by getting a scholarship to the United States with golf and to play College golf for University.
A fine student of the game, her role models are Australian professional Jason Bay and former world number one Rory McIllroy.
“My strength is my long game. I have the ability to hit far. Usually my opponents would be scared of my long game,” said pencil slim Kayla who practices 10 times a week.