It was a great weekend of Golf as the fifth season of HSBC’s Premier Golf Tournament got underway at the Shangri-La Hambantota Golf Resort and Spa on 15 and 16 September. The tournament was played on a Stableford format.
Viran Perera became the overall winner to take home the HSBC Premier Challenge Trophy 2017 and the overall winner of the A&B Divisions with a score of 36 points. Shiraz Akbarally was the overall winner in the C Division, Seniors & Ladies category with a score of 34 points.
The flagship HSBC Premier Golf tournament has seen an increase in participation over the years with this year bringing together over 100 well experienced golfers.
Ahead of the main tournament, customers were invited to a pre-game of night golf on September 15 to test their ability of chipping by playing over the pond to the 18th green using an illuminated Golf ball, a key attraction.
Viran Perera was adjudged the winner with 3 feet and 6 inches been the closest to the pin. The overall winners were awarded fully sponsored hospitality packages to fly to Shanghai, China and witness the *World Golf Championship 2017 – HSBC Champions at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China from 26 – 29 October 2017.
Overall winner, Viran Perera said, “It was a fantastic experience to be a part of the HSBC Premier Golf tournament in Hambantota. This was the first time that I had played on the course and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I am humbled by the fact that I was able to become the overall winner of the tournament as there were many other more accomplished players than
myself who participated. I am thrilled at the opportunity to see the world’s best golfers in action at the HSBC World Golf Championship in Shanghai in October. This will surely go down as one of the highlights of my short golfing career thus far and I am thankful to HSBC Premier for making this possible.”
Shiraz Akbarally, sharing his thoughts said, “The HSBC tournament has always been one of the highlights of Sri Lanka’s golfing calendar, and this year at the beautiful Shangri La, Hambantota was no exception.
The course is new and extremely well maintained, but very challenging. Winning was a complete surprise as I was playing against such experienced players, and I think that little luck on the day helped me immensely. I am excited about the invitation from HSBC Premier to witness the WGC Championship in Shanghai and look forward to witnessing the world’s best golfers in action”.
The HSBC Premier Golf Tournament has continued to promote Golf through fun and exciting challenges set each year for golfers bringing forth new dimensions to the game with ‘swing under the stars’, to the first ever foot golf (kick for birdie) and ‘The ultimate bunker challenge’, with this year marking yet another first.
HSBC has been a true advocate of golf locally and internationally. The bank sponsored the first ever ‘Junior International Golf Championship in the country recently, promoting Golf as anyone’s game and tapping young talent at grass-root levels from around the country. Special category awards for the best HSBC Premier Junior Golfers were awarded at the event. Aside from
the flagship Premier Golf Tournament the bank also sponsored the annual HSBC 5-Club Stableford Golf Tournament held at the RCGC.
Nadeesha Senaratne, Country Head of Retail Banking & Wealth Management stated “Our ambition is to make golf everyone’s game and we are committed to opening up the world of Golf supporting local grassroots initiatives as well as major global tournaments.
The HSBC Premier Golf tournament is widely regarded as one of the most important events in our calendar and has
traveled across the country over the last five years with each year bringing forth new experiences to customers, be it location or exciting Golf challenges. We thank our customers for their keen interest in participating and hope the winners will enjoy the experience of witnessing world famous golfers at the WGC HSBC Champions in Shanghai and continue to build their love for the game”.
The tournament was concluded with an entertainment packed awards ceremony held for customers and their spouses at the Grand Ballroom of the hotel, followed by dinner.
[Results ]
Winner HSBC Challenge Trophy Overall (A & B Division): Viran Perera
Overall winner (C Division, Seniors & Ladies): Shiraz Akbarally
Winner A Division: Noordeen Sethwala, runner up S.T.B. Jayasinghe
Winner B Division: Viran Perera, runner up Sathis Balasubramaniam
Wnner C Division: Shiraz Akbarally, Reza Magdon Ismail
Winner Seniors: A.S. Abdeen, runner up Dr. R.S. Senarath Yapa
Winner Ladies: Sheron Hall, runner up Anouk Chitty
Photo captions:
Pic 1 – Viran Perera –Winner of the HSBC Challenge Trophy 2017 and
Overall winner of A&B Divisions accepts his trophy and hospitality package
to witness the HSBC WGC Championship in Shanghai from Mark Prothero, CEO of
HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives
Pic 2 – Shiraz Akbarally – Overall winner of C Division, Seniors and
Ladies, accepts his award and hospitality package to witness the HSBC WGC
Championship in Shanghai from Mark Prothero, CEO of HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives B.P.