Royal-Thomian golf in support of All Island ICU and SU funding

Royal- Thomian golf fans  

The Royal Thomian Golfers Guild (RTGG) concluded another successful golfing encounter by the old boys of Royal and S. Thomas’ for the Fred de Saram trophy.   

The first encounter was in 1970, while exact records are unclear there seems to have been about 30 matches during this period.  

 The match was played in the four-ball better ball format where the low handciapper gave ¾’s of the difference to the others in the flight. There were 26 flights or 104 players in total. As has been the tradition the match was played in a competitive but healthy spirit with great camaraderie. This spirit between the old boys has existed from 1879 where starting with the cricket ‘big match’.   

 The competition and friendships between these two institutions of learning has grown in leaps and bounds. All those that played become automatic life members of the ‘RTG Guild’.   

 Last year the RTGG competition had a specific focus styled as “playing golf for a purpose”. This purpose was to raise funds for charity. Going forward the plan is to continue this format of collecting funds for charity.   
 Thanks to the generous contributions made by a few members the RTGG was able to donate an ‘optiflow nasal oxygen therapy machine’ to the Kothelawala Defence Academy University. This significant gesture communicated the commitment to our society at large and gives this encounter a higher purpose, while having some fun playing golf.   

 This year the sponsorship team and organizers decided to use funds collected from all well wishers both here and abroad with a direct cash donation to the ‘College of Anesthesiologists and Intensivists’ of Sri Lanka to support their programme “Heal Sri Lanka” .   

 The closing ceremony included the two chief guests Dr Narendra Wijemanne and Sohli Captain, followed by the two captains where captain Lal Dias of STC 12 ½ points handed over the trophy to Rohana Withanachchi RC 13 points. The two College songs were then sung with great gusto in conclusion. (SP)