Sri Lanka’s high profile golf tournament is the Sri Lanka Open and will be held from May 28 to June 2 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) course.
This championship provides an opportunity to non-member golfers with talent to match their skills against professional golfers as well to vie for the Open Golf Championship title.
The first Sri Lanka Open was organized by Sri Lanka Golf in 1972 and was won by HL Premadasa a caddy, who beat top amateur golfers too.
His win was recognized by the RCGC Committee who appointed Premadasa as an assistant golf professional.
He died in an accident prematurely a few years later.
Since then the most outstanding performer was K. Nandasena Perera who won the Sri Lanka Open seven times. Anura Rohana has also tied with Nandasena with seven wins.
Thangaraja is a past winner ranked 21st in the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) while K. Prabagaran from Nuwara Eliya won last playing in the Open in 2017 for the third time.
Mithun Perera the illustrious son of Nandasena is yet to win the Sri Lanka Open, though he is ranked 35th in the PGTI 2022 Tour.
Mithun, Thangaraja, Anura Rohana (ranked 55th in the PGTI), Prabagaran and Vijitha Bandara are regular players in the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and the Sri Lanka Open.
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Qatar, Oman, Dubai and the UAE are expected to participate.
The Sri Lanka Open 2023 is billed to offer a substantial purse in keeping with Pro-Tournaments in the region. This is with a view to raising the bar in Sri Lanka combining golf tourism as a unique holiday location too to be held at the highest level annually or bi-annually.
A top-level PRO-AM event is scheduled for May 28 followed by a Practice/Q-Round on May 29 and the 4 round Stroke-play Open championship to follow from May 30 to June 2.
The title sponsorship, principal and co-sponsorship are up for grabs with much interest shown locally and multi-national brands already in the golf Tour industry as well, organized and conducted by Sri Lanka Golf.