Mithun Perera within striking distance of Title

For some unknown reasons my tick misbehaved, got untidy and almost missed a beat resulting from which I had to be the guest of Durdans for a few days. I am out of the woods now and regretting that I could not take a closer look at the 1st half of the Royal Colombo Golf Club Annual Championship. However, the grapevine tells me the Tournament smoothened off superbly. When I read the flyer describing a drastically changed format of the normal straight laced Championship I said to myself that chaos will reign. The whole presentation looked quite complicated but I am delighted to learn that both days ended almost blemish free.

Championship
As expected the brilliant young Mithun Perera hit the lead fashionably. The chubby fella struck a staggering 3 under par 68 in the first round. In the 2nd round a couple of mishits filtered in to raise his score to one over par 72.

His total of 140 looks good and adequate to pick the title event. Young Zen Dharmaratne shot a great par round 71 on the first day and got messy the next day to move to 74. His total of 145 was 5 strokes behind Mithun Perera the leader. Much was expected from Rusi Captain but he faltered badly with 2 bad rounds of 74 & 77. He has the capacity to spring back to reckoning.

Lal heading for Silver
Lal Wickrematunga was an accomplished cricketer in his youth and as age ripened he moved to leisurely golf. Now quite seasoned and methodical he was mangy with his strokes to shoot nett 68 on the first day and a par 71 on the 2nd day. He is planning to light up the 19th next Sunday. South Korean Gong Feng was quite erratic on the first day with nett 76. His 2nd round was a stunning nett 64 rushing him up to 2nd place one stroke behind Wickrematunga. At the same level comes Richeal Hameed who had 2 very good rounds of nett 70 each. On 140 he equals Feng and stays in 2nd place rearing to get ahead.

Amerasinghe Excels
In the Bronze Division D. Amerasinghe was quite impressive. A cracking nett 67 in the first round was followed by a one over par 72. His total of 139 looks commanding. Gihan Wickremasinghe played steady golf with scores of 72 and 71 with a total of 143 he is 4 strokes behind Amarasinghe but has the skill to shorten the gap or even get head over the next weekend. Suneth Wijesinghe, Chinthaka Jayawardena and Saakya Ukwatte were impressive and can cause an upset at the top.

Priya the Master
Doc. Priya Samarasinghe was in sprightly form laughing all the way with a comfortable par round on the opening day followed by a smashing 3 under par 68 to take the leads as the grand master on 139. Swanky Kumar Boralessa had a listless 75 in the first round, got possessed on Sunday and cracked an amazing nett 65 after a quick session at Gangarama.

He is on 140 breathing hot behind Doc. Samarasinghe. Elegant Michael Sproule is there at 3rd place still a long 10 stroke behind Doc. Priya. Samarasinghe and Boralessa are planning a bash up at the 19th.