A Day of Discovery: Royal Colombo Golf Club scouts for fresh talent

Seated from left: Jehan De Saram - PGA Head Golf Professional, RCGC, Nimal Piyaratna - President, RCGC, Shiran Fernando - Vice Captain, RCGC, Shanthi Bhagirathan - Managing Director, Capital Maharaja and Radha - Junior Clinic Coordinator, RCGC.

Standing from left: Nadiyah Akram - Founder, Limelight PR, Anura Rohana - Professional Golfer, Tania Minel Balasuriya - National Ladies Golf Champion, Lalith Kumara - Assistant Golf Professional RCGC, N Thangaraja - Professional Golfer, Vijitha Bandara - Professional Golfer, Anouk - Former Ladies Amateur Champion and Asiri Abhayaratne - Chief Executive Officer, Q&E Advertising Ltd 

The Junior Clinic of the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) will host A Day of Discovery event to identify new golfing talent on 10 December. With this program, RCGC hopes to recruit a fresh pool of budding young golfers to its existing junior clinic outreach program, which was initiated in 2011 to help the game thrive in Sri Lanka.

The target group for the talent scouting program is boys and girls aged nine to 13. The program targets promising talent outside the RCGC membership. When it was first introduced in 2011, RCGC mandated that a structured, long-term program was put in place to identify, train and create the future golf champions of Sri Lanka. Provisions were put in place for 20 students to receive free of charge access to training, equipment, practice facilities and access to the golf course via this program.

The timeline agreed upon was 10 years of training to create a national golf champion. Within five years, one of these students, Tania Minel Balasuriya, succeeded in becoming Sri Lanka National Ladies Golf Champion at just 15 years of age.

“There is no question that this country harboursmuch talent, but we need to be proactive in seeking out and nurturing it,” says Jehan De Saram, P.G.A. Head Golf Professional at the Royal Colombo Golf Club. “As golfers, it is our responsibility to strengthen and develop the game in Sri Lanka, and endeavour to be a feature on the international stage.”

De Saram also noted that for a country with so few golfers and limited access to opportunities in this arena, Sri Lanka has made a significant mark on golf in South Asia. 

“It’s noteworthy that many of our award-winning golfers don’t fit the mould of the typical Colombo elitist that many golf enthusiasts may be perceived as,” he said. “This is why we started the junior clinic outreach program in the first place- to dispel this notion and create an opportunity for anyone to learn and benefit from the game. Through the generous support of the Royal Colombo Golf Club and its members, this initiative has helped to nurture the talents of many young golfers.”

A Day of Discovery is powered by the generous support of MTV/MBC Channel Organisation linked to the Capital Maharaja Organisation. To register to participate in the RCGC Day of Discovery, please send a WhatsApp message to 0775445153 by 5 December 2018. Early registrations are recommended in order to avoid disappointment.