129th Amateur Golf Championships tee off today

By Shamseer Jaleel reporting from Kandy

The 129th edition of the Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship gets underway today at the Victoria Golf Course with the participation of players from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Afghanistan.

The Ladies’ Amateur Championship will be conducted concurrently with representation from India, Pakistan and Thailand along with Sri Lanka in a team event.

The Sri Lanka Amateur Championship is renowned for being the second-oldest Amateur Golf Championship in the world, initially played in 1897, following the footsteps of the British Amateur Championship conducted on a match-play knockout format.

Thailand’s Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng won the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship last year and topped his performance by winning the 82nd Singha Thailand Amateur Championship beating top Asian amateurs in August 2016. Last year’s winner will not be defending his title but Thailand will defend with two other young amateurs, Kammalas Namuangruk and Sangchai Kaewcharoen, who will be accompanied by two top-class women to defend the Ladies’ Amateur title too which the Thai women annexed.

India will mount a strong challenge through the second- and fifth-ranked Indian amateurs, joined by two young women ranked within the top 10 in India, all of whom will try to win the Sri Lanka title, which was theirs in 2014. 

Sri Lankan professional player N. Thangaraja, now successfully competing on the Indian Pro Golf Tour, was the last Sri Lankan to win, claiming the title in 2012 and 2013.This year the Sri Lankan challenge rests on the shoulders of Sisira Kumara, Sanjeewa, Ranga, Indika, Amarapadma and young hopefuls Pradeep Bandara, Chanaka Perera, Chalitha Pushpika and Husni Uwise. Junior regional winner at Victoria in July 2016, Armand Flamer Caldera could be a dark horse with great potential to cause a few upsets in the Lankans’ favour.

The International Team Championship for the Parlakimedi Trophy will be played on an aggregate two-member team gross score over two rounds today and tomorrow. The two rounds will also serve as the qualifying rounds for the match play stage of the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship which will have an automatic draw based on the two rounds’ qualifying scores. The men’s championship has a field of over 70 participants, with 32 qualifying for match play stage with the 36-hole final scheduled to be played on 22 October.

In the Ladies Championship, eight will qualify for the match play stage and the 36-hole final will be played on 21 October. The Sri Lankan challenge in the Ladies’ competition will be led by youngsters Tania Minel, Kayla Perera and Sandiya Kumari from the Victoria Golf Course along with evergreen golfer and one of the most consistent performers on the Victoria Golf Course, Niloo Jayathilake