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Winners from left: 1st Runner-up - Chanaka Perera,
Winner - Reshan Algama, 2nd Runner-up - Uchitha Ranasinghe
By Shamseer Jaleel
15-year-old student from Colombo International School (CIS), Reshan Algama, held his nerve playing alongside heavily experienced golfers in the circuit to win the Asian Games Trials and Sri Lanka Amateur Ranking Tournament which took place at the Victoria Golf Resort in Rajawella recently.
Reshan, with an overall score of 296, beat the Sri Lankan top-rated amateur Chanaka Perera by eight strokes and held his nerve to extend the lead by two more shots. Uchitha Ranasinghe secured third place among amateurs with an overall score of 305.
Reshan having made his debut appearance overseas representing Sri Lanka Golf in Bangladesh recently, performed quite well for a debut appearance and visibly that single experience has helped Reshan improve rapidly growing in confidence and showing the ability to deal with pressure. Reshan Algama’s opening round of 78 secured joint 4th place with Chanaka Perera the past Amateur National Champion, behind the joint leaders Uchitha Ranasinghe and Priya Hemantha, an experienced teaching pro playing on his home Course. In 3rd place one stroke behind the joint leaders was Vijitha Bandara the only PGTI playing Professional in the field, who also holds the current Course Record at seven-under-par.
Reshan Algama teeing off for the first time in the leaders flight in the 3rd round played excellent Golf showing maturity and ability to withstand pressure carding a solid 2 over par 74, surging into a three-stroke lead from the only playing professional in the field Vijitha Bandara, with Priya Hemantha slipping a few places along with Uchitha Ranasinghe, Chanaka Perera, Chalitha Pushpika of the Sri Lanka Navy.
The final round was an excellent test of character for Reshan Algama who took on Vijitha Bandara and Priya Hemantha and withstood the pressure to card a solid one over par 73 to maintain the 3 stroke-lead from Vijitha Bandara and secure his first victory at the senior level of Golf in Sri Lanka at the Victoria Golf Resort a challenging course up to international standards, with the longest yardage at Par 72 and recognized among the 100 most beautiful Golf Courses in the world.A great day and ray of hope for Sri Lanka Golf as the young star overturned the senior brigade challenging for the National team spots for a brighter golf future for Sri Lanka.
Among the two professionals who took part, Vijitha Bandara managed to secure the overall second position albeit with a three-stroke margin to Reshan who played sensational golf over four days. Reshan’s victory establishes him as one of the youngest ever to win a Sri Lanka Golf Ranking tournament since its inception.
Reshan Algama is coached by Jehan De Saram, one of the top Sri Lanka golf Coach, and his course management is provided by Anura Rohana, one of the leading professional golfers Sri Lanka has produced.
