SriLankan Airlines Golf Classic tees off

Chinthana WASALA

The prestigious SriLankan Airlines Golf Classic will mark its comeback today when it tees off at the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) with a practice session, and will conclude tomorrow followed by an awards ceremony and celebration.

The Golf Classic is set to present three days of exciting golf for over 125 international and local players, who will vie for honours and prestige while the organizers offer grand prizes including air tickets to destinations around the world.

Winners will be determined through points allocated over two rounds in categories Gents’ and Ladies’ Gross and Nett Stableford Scores, Junior Division, Nearest to the pin, Longest Drive, Hole in One and Overall Winner of the Tournament.

SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickramasinghe said that the importance of Sports tourism has been identified many countries in the Far East and South Asia and have made vast investments to develop supporting facilities for golf, which attracts high-end tourists.

“Sri Lanka is still in its infancy as a Golfing destination, events such as the SriLankan Golf Classic will help market and position the country in the international Golf community,” added Wickramasinghe.

Sri Lanka is attracting positioning itself to become the most preferred tourist destination in South Asia and the national carrier, SriLankan is the first thing that meets the visitors and has a key role to play in promoting the country.

The airline has sponsored many international sporting events, like golf, surfing and rugby football.

“The SriLankan Golf Classic has been one of our most successful events in the past, attended by many international golfers and we are excited to relaunch it. We will continue to develop it further in the coming years attracting more numbers, with the aim to contribute to the national goal of increasing high end tourism,” added SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena. The event will have the support of several top organizations, with the Principal Sponsor being Rolls-Royce. Lufthansa Technik, Dialog Axiata PLC, Premadasa Gem & Jewellery Pvt. Ltd, Lanka Sportreizen (LSR) and Gold FM are the other sponsors of the event.

RCGC, an 18-hole golf course which is the oldest golf club in Sri Lanka, and the second oldest Royal Golf Club outside United Kingdom is expected to provide the ‘Sri Lankan Feeling’ to the visiting golfers and their families in today and tomorrow with top class golf action.