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Rusi, Thuhashini win Men's, Women's crowns

A large gathering of golfers, holiday makers and revelers flocked to the prestigious Golf Championships of the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club which was concluded over the Vesak Holidays.

The picturesque. Golf course set in beautiful surroundings offered a true test of shot making in wet and windy conditions. This saw the two leading amateur golfers Rusi Captain and Thuhashini Selvaratnam pull away from the rest of the field to win the men's and women's crowns respectively.

Rusi Captain stamped his supremacy when he comprehensively beat strongly field by a massive 20 strokes. Captain who finished in style with a 2 under gross 68, has now won the NEGC championship 8 times and has a amazing total of 18 club titles (including 10 from Colombo). Much was expected from Alain Gyi but he struggled to find form and ended runner up. Romesh Abeyratne was rock steady throughout whilst the in form Bandula Weerasinghe was aggressive off the tee and delightful with his irons. They finished 3rd and 4th in the aggregate gross events.

In the nett events, Hamza Marcan Markar played superbly on day 1 to win the Ogilvy Cup. On day two, Ranil Pathirane returned to form with a timely 70 and clinched the Keith Rollo Cup. Bandula Weerasinghe shot 4 under par 67 on day 3 to take home the Carlsberg Trophy.

T. Nirmalingam, Husseifa Abdulhussein and Lalin Senadheera each had their moments with one good round. Long hitting Sanjeewa Wickremanayake, Arshad Ahmed, Ratvan de Livera and Sunil Jayakody were seen too often lost in the rough, whilst Kumar Boralessa, Sohli Cpatain, Harris Serasinghe and Dr. Narendra Wijemanne quickly found that the course bites back. Rohan de Silva, Ivor Mahroof, Wasantha de Silva and Sumedha Amarasinghe played lots of strokes, lost lots of balls and had lots of fun. They returned no scores.

Ladies events

Hot favorite Thuhashini Selvaratnam, Sri Lanka's leading female golfer suddenly found rising star Jackie Dias hot on her heels and after the first two days led by a mere 2 strokes. In the 3rd round Thuhashini, found her magic around the greens. She went on to a 1 under 71 and the womens title by 13 strokes. Jackie played brilliantly for the most part but had costly lapses in concentration. She needs to be able to remain focused at this level of the game. The two of them will provide the backbone for a strong Sri Lankan team to next years Queen Sirikit Trophy.

In the net events, Jackie Dias won the three day aggregate by 4 shots beating Suven Selvaratnam playing her home course into second place. The consistent Niloo Jayathileke was deadly from 75 years in, on her way to a net 71 and the first day's prize, whilst I.O. Kim clinched day two. Suni Nirmalingam chipped and putted her way to win on the final day.

In the ladies Bronze Division, Roshini Sangani was in sparkling form, She played steadily over the three days to pip Manouri Jayakody into 2nd place Roshini carried a permanent smile all the way back to Colombo.

The championship were once again sponsored by Hatton National Bank whilst the ladies events were sponsored by Union Assurance.

In keeping with the modern game, the tournament format was changed this year from the traditional match play to a 3 day stroke play event and saw a record 42 participants.

Sunil Jayakody the captain of NEGC, Clive Tissera and Errol Johnston must be congratulated for the course preparations and the running of the tournament which was classy, as were the festivities and entertainment laid out each day - Rowena Marcan Markar & Niloo Jayathileke - take a bow.

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