Nearly 150 players tee-off for Pin and Pam Fernando Trophy

The annual feature fixture of the RCGC calendar, the Pin Fernando Trophy, attracted 144 entries and after a very competitive qualifying round, 16 qualified for the automatic knockout stage of the draw in the Men’s category. 

The top qualifier was Aravind Fernando with a magnificent 64 nett off a 12 handicap. The young Fernando showed glimpses of brilliance and seems a chip off the old block, being the son of former national tennis champ and proficient golfer Arjun Fernando. Fernando also won the ‘B’ division prize with Mindika Hettiarachchi taking the runner-up spot with a nett 68. Ravindra Wijegunaratne won the ‘A’ division prize with a nett 68 edging out Chandana Weerasinghe to second place on a countback tied on 68 nett. The ‘C’ division prize went to S. Vethavinayaakm with a nett 69 while Daniel Oritz collected the runner-up prize with nett 71.

The top 16 qualifiers, headed by Fernando at nett 64, included a competitive field and with the Match-Play stage to come, a lot of exciting golf is expected. The cut-off of 16 was administered at nett 74 with nine players tied but only the President of the RCGC, Johnny De Saram, making the last spot on the countback.

Additional consolation prizes were given to the men in the Seniors category, with D. Serasinghe picking up the prize with a nett 69 and Ajith Dissanayake edging out Nihal Boralessa on a countback tied on nett 76 won the Masters Division.

In the Ladies’ category, 15 faced the starter and of the eight qualifiers, Sharon Hall topped the list with a nett 71 while the cut-off was nett 77, with a countback deciding the final three places and Ruani Desinghe missing out. The qualifying day prizes for the best nett score in the Ladies’ Silver Division (Handicap 0 -18) went to the overall top qualifier Sharon Hall with a nett 71 and Swen Selvaratnam was the runner-up with nett 75. 

In the Bronze Division (19-36 H’cap) the evergreen Fran De Mel was the best nett with 74 and was also the second best qualifier. Ruani Desinghe pipped Roshini Sangani for the runner-up prize with a nett 75 off a 26 handicap on a countback. The top eight qualifiers in the Ladies’ Category for the Pam Fernando Trophy was a close call with the experienced Neesha Nirmalalingam, Swen Selvaratnam, Suni Nirmalalingam, Michelle Mirchandani, joining Sharon Hall and Fran De Mel with Roshini Sangani and Sumithra Ukwatte completing the extremely competitive knockout stage ladies for the 2015 plum prize.