119th Burdett Trophy on 13 August

One of the globe’s oldest Golf competitions, the Annual Burdett Trophy, between the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) and the Nuwara-Eliya Golf Club (NEGC) will tee off on 13 August at the NEGC golf course in Nuwara Eliya. This event started in 1902 between the two esteemed clubs which will be one-day affair will tee off at 7 a.m. 

The 119th Burdett Trophy for Men’s and the 85th Puffin Cup for Ladies will be played on the same day.  The Burdett Trophy for Men’s has been played throughout the last 120 years, except during the two World war (1914-1918 and from 1939-1945 due to adverse weather conditions this event could not take place. 

Burdett was inaugurated in 1902 between Sri Lanka’s two prestigious golf clubs, RCGC and NEGC, 25 years before the commencement of world’s second oldest team golf event, the Ryder Cup which started in 1927 between United State and Europe. The Burdett Trophy was presented by then Assistant Deputy Commissioner to the Governor, Sir Francis Burdett. NEGC won the inaugural Burdett Trophy. The Burdett Trophy is the second oldest golf event between two teams, only to stand second to Ryder Cup between United States and Europe.

The Puffin Cup was introduced in 1936 beside the main tournament, opening doors to lady golfers of the two clubs to compete. C.M. Puffin Lushington presented the cup and the championship has become a leading ladies golf team event over the years.

Being an event of rich tradition, the Burdett Trophy teams will be announced during the evening function day before the tournament day and the draw will be held on the following morning at the first tee by the two team captains as they exchange the team cards.

NEGC team will be led by veteran golfer, Sudath Kumara while Saneth Gamage leads the RCGC. The Burdett teams comprise 12 players each, who will play four foursome matches and eight singles on the par 71 course which extends over 6,075 yards of challenging fairways. 

Two sensational young golfers, Haroon Aslam (18) and Reshan Algama (14) will be in action for NEGC which also see some other young players teeing off in the Blue ribbon event of the countries golf arena.

At present RCGC leads with 63 wins to NEGC 37. 

The Puffin Cup for Ladies began in 1936. In the Ladies event Central Hills player, Ahalya Rajan will lead the NEGC while Anuk Chitty will head the RCGC. The Puffin Cup is played as four foursome matches and four single matches. 

Alongside these two tournaments, will be the Masters Golf tournament and 125th Anniversary competitions. In total 124 golfers will tee off for their respective teams. 

Principal sponsor of the major tournament is Apparel Technologies.  (SJ)