Perera and Sons Bakers sponsored Sri Lanka Junior Match Play Golf Championship 2023 from 21 Aug.

• Rukmini Kodagoda Trophy up for grabs for girls and boys match play winners

The Sri Lanka Junior Match-Play Golf Championship will tee off this year on 21 August at the Royal Colombo Golf Club.

First day’s play will be the medal round qualifying round followed by the match play segment of the tournament from 22 to 24 August.

“We at P and S Bakers are delighted once again to support Sri Lanka Golf and especially junior golf by creating a competitive platform for the juniors to show their mark. Success in tournaments of this nature will be the steppingstone for international competition,” CEO/Managing Director Gihan Perera.

This prestigious junior event is sponsored by Perera and Sons Bakers, the family company of the late Rukmini Kodagoda. The junior match play championship is held yearly in the honour of Rukmini Kodagoda, who won the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship in 1979 and several other club tournaments. 

Ruki as she was popularly known established herself as one of Sri Lanka’s talented sports women having won national titles and represented Sri Lanka in both tennis and golf. In tennis she won the national doubles and mixed doubles titles partnering top players during her era such as Ranjani Jayasuriya, Wendy Molligoda and Bernard Pinto on several occasions. She also held the prestigious position of Chairman Sri Lanka Ladies Golf Union in 1990 and 1991 and Captain of the Ladies Section of the Royal Colombo Golf Club. “The tournament is played for the 8th year and it’s nice to see the test of mental grit of our junior golfers given the different match play format of the championship. It also inspires me to pay tribute to a lady icon of sports Rukmini Kodagoda in Sri Lanka who has achieved double honours with national representation in golf and tennis,” Sri Lanka Golf Union member and Junior Sub Committee Chairperson Niloo Jayatilake said.

The inaugural Sri Lanka Junior Match Play Golf Championship was played in 2014 with Prashan Pieris winning the title. The tournament was not played during COVID lock down periods but resumed in 2022. The winners in 2022 were Kaya Daluwatte in the girl’s division and Haroon Aslam in the boys. Players will compete in four Age Categories comprising Gold Division (15 -18 years), Silver (12-14 years), Bronze Division (10-11 Years) and Copper Division (9 years and under).

The overall  winner of the championship will carry away the Rukmini Kodagoda Challenge Trophy in the boys and girls categories. The tournament format will be based on a qualifying stroke play round for each age category, with the best eight qualifying scores going on to play in the match play knockout finals to determine the Gold, Silver, Bronze and Copper Division winners. 

However, girls in the Gold and Silver Division and the boys in the Gold Categories will be eligible to vie for the Rukmini Kodagoda Trophy and the Title of Junior Boys Champion and Junior Girls Champion respectively.