The Professional Golf Tournament organized by Sri Lanka Golf (SLG) featuring some top-class overseas golfers will take place from May 28 to June 2 at the Royal Colombo Golf Course (RCGC) in Borella.

This was first played in 1972, providing an opportunity to non-member Golfers with talent to vie for the Open Golf Champion title, which was won by H.L. Premadasa a Caddy beating top Amateur Golfers too in 1972 which was recognized by the RCGC Committee by appointing H.L. Premadasa as Assistant Golf Professional.

After H.L. Premadasa’s death there were a host of Caddies from RCGC and the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club (NEGC) namely K.M. Wemboo, A.A.Sumathipala, P.Sigamany. Out of the lot Nandasena Perera was seven times winner of the Sri Lanka Open and Anura Rohana also tied with Nandasena on seven wins. Thangaraja is a past winner Ranked 21st whilst K. Prabagaran from Nuwara-Eliya won the last playing of the Open in 2017, for the 3rd time.

Mithun Perera son of Nandasena Perera is yet to win the Sri Lanka Open though he is ranked in 35th in the PGTI 2022 Tour. Mithun, Thangaraja, Anura Rohana (Ranked), Prabagaran and Vijitha Bandara are regular players in the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).

Sri Lanka Open is expected to offer substantial prize money attracting top professional golfers from the PGTI as well as from other South- East Asian Region and the Middle East countries. Golfers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Qatar, Oman, Dubai and the UAE are expected to tee off in this event.

Practice round will take place on May 28 followed by the qualifying round and the 4 round Stroke play Open championship to follow from May 30 to June 2.

Golf Gymkhana – mini- Golf games and Fun events like Pitching into a Bucket, Obstacle Chipping, Crazy Putting, Ladder Putting, Plastic Ball longest drive, etcetera promoting the fun aspect of golf to children towards the development of golf in Sri Lanka will also take place during these 4 days which is assured to attract a large crowd.

The Title Sponsorship, Principal and Co-Sponsorship is up for grabs with much interest shown locally and Multi-National Brands already in the Golf Tour industry. (SJ)