Mark Bostock golf on July 28
S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN, Kandy Sports Correspondent
A full house of over seventy-five golfers have already entered the
annual Mark Bostock Memorial Golf Championship organized by the Victoria
Golf and Country Resort and sponsored by the Bostock family, Etisalat,
Carlsberg and 60 sponsored by DT Options, Debug Computers and Pericyl
which will be worked off at the Picturesque Victoria Golf course at
Rajawella off Kandy this Saturday (July 28) with the first tee off at 7
am.
The final number of golfers for this major competition is likely to
reach the three figure mark with the last minute entry by foreign
participants and local golfers.
The Mark Bostock Memorial Golf Championship is one of the biggest
golf championships to be organized by the award winning Victoria Golf
and Country Resort which has won the award as the best golf course in
the Sub-Continent for five years since the golf course was opened 12
years ago in 1999.
This year’s championship will see in addition to the glittering array
of trophies, the winner of the main championship will receive a fully
paid trip to Agra in India where the winner will spend three days and
two nights by courtesy of the organizers Victoria CGR, said the General
Manager Australian born Errol Johnston.
The defending Mark Bostock Trophy winner is Swede Bo Lindberg who
will be out there to defend the title which he won last year. The winner
of the trophy in 2010 was Kandy SC’s rugby coach South African born
Johan Taylor who may not participate as his club will be playing
Havelocks SC in a key rugby match the same day.
No competition is close to the heart of Victoria than this golf
championship as it was late Mark Bostock was the founder of the Victoria
Golf Course on a 600 acres coconut plantation which was once a Dutch
farm. It was during one of his visits to Victoria he conceived this idea
which has given a tremendous boost to golf tourism and also to other
tourists who would like to have a quiet holiday in sylvan surroundings
at the same time living with nature. Plenty of accommodation is
available within the golf complex in the form of a chain of chalets and
guest houses coupled with the state-of-the-art Araliya restaurant.
Late Mark Bostock was a planter, ruggerite, cricketer and better
known as a marksman whose feats are legendary. Later he became the
Chairman of the John Keells Group of companies where he displayed his
acumen in the field of business. Being a nature lover, one of his main
instructions was that the golf course should be constructed without
disturbing the environment and this was carried out to the letter and
the land has become home to many small wild animals, 80 varieties of
birds and also flora indigenous to the country.
The course was designed for 36 holes by that world famous golf
architect Donald Steel with the assistance of Martin Ebert and this was
implemented by Mark Bosticks trusted Lieutenant and former Group Manager
of Aislaby Group Tony Witham who flew over from Australia to undertake
this assignment.
Victoria region has benefited much from this golf course as a large
number of girls and boys from Digana and Rajawella have found employment
in the golf course and over a 100 line room dwellers have been provided
with alternate form of accommodation in the form of Cottage type houses
with 40 perches of land. This was a windfall for the workers living
within the plantation which was earmarked for the golf course.
Thus the people of the area backed this golf course project to the
hilt throwing the spanners in the works of the one time protesters who
were under the mistaken notion that the golf course would cause harm to
the area – an idea which was a figment of their imagination.
The Manager Marketing and Events Dhanushika Medagoda who handles the
media said that the following events will be worked off in addition to
the
Main Championship – Mark Bostock Trophy, Ken Balendra Trophy for
men’s gross winner and runner-up, Men’s net event: trophies for winner
and runner-up, Nearest to the Pin (Men’s), Nearest to the Pin (Ladies),
Longest Drive (Men’s), Longest Drive (Ladies), Ladies net: Trophies for
winner and runner-up, Tony Witham Trophy for ladies gross winner and
runner-up
Some of the top golfers who will be seen in action are Gary
Chatfield, Ian Tait, Sujeewa Lankatillake, Sirath Kasthuriratne, Sunil
Jayakoddy, Rohitha Batapola, Steffan Hansson, Lalith Ramanayake, Bo
Lindberg, Thusith Wijesinghe, Richard Haneed, Suren Wass, Fazly Azar,
Tony Witham, Sidath Wettimuni, Nimal Wettimuni, Scott Wanigasekera,
Errol Johnston, Noel Joseph, Priyantha Kumara, A. Dantanarayana, Veinert
Holm, Ajith Krishantha.
Some of the lady golfers who will be seen in action are Niloo
Jayatillake, Manori Jayakoddy, Suwen Selvaratnam, Sonia Boyle, Fran de
Mel, Jyoti Haynes, Roshni Sangani, Pauline Morley, Chris Benjamin,
Yolande Aluwihare, Helga Spendier.
The Victoria golf course is in excellent condition after the recent
showers and has been made more challenging the Course Manager Indu
Rodrigo under the guidance of General Manager Errol Johnston and there
will be plenty of spills and thrills to the golfers.
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