UTE-CAT Sri Lanka Open Golf from today
Anuradha Abeysekera
UTE-CAT Sri Lanka Open Golf Championship will tee off today and will
continue till December 7 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club. Sri Lanka Golf
Union (SLGU) staging the event with the sponsorship of United Tractors &
Equipment (Pvt) Ltd.(UTE), the authorized dealer for Caterpillar
Equipment in Sri Lanka who has stepped forward to support the
championship for the second consecutive year.
‘UTE-CAT Sri Lanka Open Golf Championship 2012 will see professional
golfers who have proven their metal in the Asian region along with
amateurs battling it out for the supremacy.
Sri Lankan Pro-Golfers Anura Rohana and Mithun Perera who challenged
each other in a head-to-head final last year, will compete in this
year’s tournament as well. Anura Rohana and Mithun have firmly made
their mark on the Indian PG Tour and on the Asian circuit as well. Anura
Rohana is the defending champion and will certainly face stiff
opposition from Mithun, Prabagaran, Thangaraja the reigning Amateur
Champion and several others who will make the Championship a memorable
tournament.
There are several other coveted trophies on offer including UTE-CAT
Challenge Trophy for Amateurs (Men) and Pam Fernando Memorial Trophy for
Amateurs (Ladies). The Championship will see its qualifying round
working off today and will be open to RCGC members and non-members with
a handicap of 14 and under.
The Amateur Golfer with the best aggregate score over the first two
rounds of the main tournament will claim the UTE-CAT Challenge trophy
while an amateur lady golfer with the best aggregate score in the first
two rounds will be awarded the Pam Fernando Memorial Trophy for
Amateurs. Last year, Sanjiv Vairavanthan won the UTE-CAT Challenge
trophy while Shayanika Fernando bagged the Pam Fernando Memorial Trophy
for Amateurs.
UTE’s former Chairman Pin Fernando was the leading golfer in Sri
Lanka during his time while the current Chairman of UTE, Priath Fernando
is the Captain of the Royal Colombo Golf Club this year.
UTE also sponsors the prestigious Pin Fernando Trophy, one of the
prominent golf event conducted by the RCGC, which they have been
sponsoring for the past 11 years.
Pam Fernando considered as the ‘First Lady’ of golf in Sri Lanka and
the wife of golfing legend Pin Fernando, has won the Sri Lanka Ladies’
Amateur title five times. She is in the Guinness Book of records as the
oldest lady winner of a national golf title. She has rendered a yeomen
service for the upliftment of Ladies and Junior Golf in Sri Lanka.
The Royal Colombo Golf Club ‘Ridgeways’ golf course will be buzzing
with over 100 golfers battling for supremacy from Monday to Friday. |
