Mithum and Praba combine to beat Asian teams

Richard Dwight

GOLF: The Sri Lankan golfing duo of K. Prabagaran as captain and partnered by Mithum Perera, did themselves and the country proud by playing golf of a high order, to secure the second position in the team event of the 59th Singapore Open Amateur Championship with New Zealand emerging as the winners by a close margin of just 3 strokes.

This prestigious golf competition was held from August 22 to 25 at the Singapore Island Country Club-Bukit Course.

The team event was contested by 11 countries, consisting of 2 players each and, it does redound to the credit of the Sri Lankan pair to come 2nd ahead of strong teams from Singapore, India, Thailand and Philippines.

Prabagaran and Mithum played admirably with Praba's driving being comparable to the longest hitters around.

Mithum ended up with 2 over par 285 to take the 9th best individual spot while Praba's final score was 287 (5 over par) finishing amongst the top 15 individuals of a total field of 50 participants.

The performance, of the Sri Lankan team managed by, Nirmal Hettiarachchi, was indeed courageous.

Results such as this, is a sequel to the Sri Lanka Golf Union taking positive steps to develop future golf champions by using every possible opportunity within their limited resources, to provide international exposure outside Sri Lanka.

It is also felt, that in order to improve significantly in the foreseeable future, they need to experience conditions outside the Asian region on a more regular basis.

It is hoped that the success achieved in Singapore will spur our golfers to do well at the Asian Games.