Fazley Azhar wins Orient Club Golf Tournament

The Orient Club, a traditional gentlemen’s club, was formed to shut out the colonial British and only allow Sri Lankan members; it has been the social hideaway for those as illustrious as D.S. Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, Sir John Kotelawala, leaders of academia, sports and captains of industry for over 130 years.

The long awaited inaugural Orient club golf tournament was held at the Royal Colombo Golf Club on Friday, 5 November 2010.

Fazley Azhar, the winner of the 2009 Mark Bostock Tournament and Rotary Tournament in Victoria, was at the top of game. The light drizzle throughout the tournament was no deterrent to the quality of golf. Fazley had an excellent front nine, with two birdies and four pars.

In the back nine, Fazley started to cool off and Diluk Desinghe became a serious contender for the top spot. The game was decided on the 18th hole; despite fading light, Fazley managed to edge out the competition to steal the win. Fazley ended with eight pars and two birdies. He had 43 stableford scoring system points, with net stroke score of 80.

The Orient Club treasurer, Diluk Desinghe won second place with 42 points with a better back 9 holes beating out young Lochana Mathew who also had 42 points. Diluk was driving long and straight and demonstrated some excellent fairways to green shots.

Closest to the pin was won by Lucky “Python” Desinghe.  Kavinda Mathew had the longest drive on the par four 8th hole.

Club President Arjun Dharmadasa hopes this is a start to building a fine golfing tradition at the Orient Club. According to Mr Dharmadasa and Priyanthe Kapuwatte, head of the organizing committee, plans are already afoot to host next year’s event at the Nuwera Eliya Golf Club.