Golf: 5 under par Prabhagaran pips Mithun by 1 to retain Sri Lanka Open title

After trailing the previous day, K. Prabhagaran from Nuwara Eliya Golf Club defended his title successfully by shooting five under par 66 to overhaul overnight leader, Mithun Perera by one and convincingly stretch his lead by two for a grand aggregate total of 16 under par, to clinch the Solar Therm Sri Lanka Open 2014 ended at the Royal Colombo Golf Club on Friday (30).   Perera, starting the final round one stroke ahead of Prabhagaran, was quickly overtaken by the defending champion who started with a birdie on the first hole and on the 5th to take the lead.   But a birdie on the 8th hole, brought Perera to tie on 13 under with Prabhagaran on the 8th hole (62nd) creating much excitement with excellent golf followed by an eager enthusiastic crowd.   Prabhagaran kept his calm and continued on the closing holes birdying the 12th, 14th, 15th to establish a clear lead and made his first bogey on the 17th, only to recover the dropped shot with a classic birdie on the 18th to clinch the trophy and defend his title in style.   M. Dharma from India, playing alongside Perera and Prabhagaran, wilted under pressure to be five over par and slipped to 5th place but finished two shots ahead of Anura Rohana, the seven-time winner who had to be content with 6th place on two under, 282 aggregate score.   N. Thangarajah was in full flight scoring three under at the turn and carding a five under 66 to climb the standings to tie for third place with Zen Dharmaratne on a total six under par aggregate 278.   Dharmaratne maintained his consistency by carding a 68 – three under par last round to overtake Rohana and clinch a third place tie.   The overall standard of golf was excellent and augurs well for the future of Sri Lanka Golf with several juniors namely Prashan Peiris, Ishira Fernando and Sachin de Silva making the cut.   In the ladies event sponsored by UTE-Cat for the Pam Fernando Challenge Trophy, Niloo Jayathilake’s consistency was rewarded beating her nearest rival Tania Balasooriya by ten strokes in the Gross score.   Irene Scarth was the clear winner in the nett standings.   The 40 players who made the cut-off collected prize money.   The tournament was organised by the Sri Lanka Golf Union for the 44th year with Solar Therm coming in as sponsors and UTE-CAT and CML MTD Walkers Group coming in as associate sponsors.   Sri Lanka Open 2014 final standings:   Winner: K. Prabagaran 268 -- 67, 67, 68, 66, (-16)   Runner-up: Mithun Perera 270 -- 67, 68, 66, 69, (-14)   3rd place: N. Thangarajah 278 -- 73, 68, 71, 66; Zen Dharmaratne 278 -- 70, 69, 71, 68 (-6)   5th place: M. Dharma (Ind) 280 -- 67, 68, 69, 76, (-4)   6th place: Anura Rohana 282 -- 69, 69, 71, 73, (-2)   7th place: Vijitha Bandara 284 -- 73, 68, 71, 72, (even)   8th Place: Lalith Kumara 288 -- 73, 75, 66, 74, (+4)   9th Place: Sisira Kumara 289 -- 70, 70, 77, 72, (+5)   10th Place: M. Arumugam 293 -- 67, 76, 77, 73, (+9)   UTE-CAT Challenge Trophy   Aggregate Gross Score Two Rounds   Winner: Kushal Johnpillai 146   Runner-up: Prashan Peiris 155   Handicap Category 15-28 Aggregate Nett Score   Winner: Rohan Rodrigo 158   Runner-up: Kyle Oritz 165   Pam Fernando Challenge Trophy Aggregate Gross Score Two Rounds   Winner: Niloo Jayathilake 170   Runner-up: Tania Balasuriya 180   Aggregate Nett Score Two Rounds   Winner: Irene Scarth 148   Runner-up: Niloo Jayathilake 152