A host of professionals are billed to take part in the Sri Lanka Open Golf championship scheduled to begin on May 30 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) course in Colombo.
These professional golfers include several foreigners from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Bhutan and there are two Sri Lankan players who are now resident in the US and Australia who have confirmed their participation.
Kayle de Silva who is now a citizen of the US who has won several junior golf tournaments in Sri Lanka and Yevin Samaratunga who is just 17 years old and now lives in Australia will be seen in action.
De Silva has a handicap of +1 and is considered a very good player produced in Sri Lanka. Samaratunga is also a very good player of the recent past and will be closely watched.
Dialog will be the gold sponsor of this championship while SriLankan Airlines have consented to provide air tickets to bring down the pro golfers to Sri Lanka. Courtyard by Marriott Colombo, Transcend Drive, OLU, Lanka IOC. GFlock and Prima are among the other goodwill sponsors.
Leading professional golfer from Sri Lanka will be Anura Rohana who has won the Sri Lanka Open seven times and will be attempting to become the golfer with the highest number of wins. Only Nandasena Perera has won this event for a record seven times earlier.
Mithun Perera son of Nandasena Perera, is also a top professional golfer who is yet to win this championship and will be determined to win this time around.
K. Prabagaran (3 times champ) and N. Thangarajah another former champ will be challenged by Udayan Mane, a prominent Asian Tour top golfer, Jamal Hossain the leading Bangladesh professional in the PGTI, a top golfer from Pakistan and many others from India, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates will add colour to the field at the RCGC.
Vijitha Bandara, Lalith Kumara and Tissa Chandradasa will be the other experienced professional golfers from Sri Lanka to join in. Among the top Sri Lankan Amateurs such as past Amateur champion Chanda Perera, Chalitha Pushpika and young rising stars like Reshan Algama make up the strong field.
“After a dearth of three years due to the pandemic, pro and novice golfers can pull out their irons and swing into action at the RCGC course for a day of fun and competition,” said Michael Magala, president of Sri Lanka Golf (SLG).
“Golf in Sri Lanka has come up a long way and like in cricket, golfers have the potential to become world class players in the near future,” said Lal Wickrematunga Secretary of SLG in his vote of thanks.