Ukwatte wins inaugural Lankan Golfers UAE Open

In a day of extreme fun and high competition, Dayananda Ukwatte won the inaugural Lankan Golfers UAE 2012 Open held at Victoria Golf and Country Resort on 21 April. Ukwatte won the top prize of an all expenses paid golfing trip to Dubai to play a few rounds of golf with the Dubai based Lankan Golfers UAE Society, the organisers of this prestigious event.

True to their pre-tournament promise, the organisers had put on an event which was unlike any other seen in the golfing scene in Sri Lanka and maintained the highest standards of golfing hospitality. The event saw a record turnout of almost 120 participants taking the field for a day of fun and competition.

The Lankan Golfers UAE guaranteed a unique brand of golfing hospitality and that is exactly what the players and their guests got to experience – right from the starter kits with many golfing goodies, to on course food and beverages, music and activities through the day to the gala dinner and awards distribution in the evening, everything had been meticulously planned with one objective – to make sure everyone had fun. Guests and players were seen moving to the beats of Michael and the Hezonites until the wee hours of the morning.

The golf course was in immaculate condition with the rough around the fairways grown to ensure that any ball that did not find the short stuff was sufficiently penalised. Straight hitters were amply rewarded and the overall winning score of 39 Stableford points scored by Ukwatte was enough to win the overall prize on a count back from Sujeewa Lankatilake who had the identical score. The Men’s division one was won by Sidath Wettimuny and the runner-up and second runner-up were Damindra Fernando and Sarath Priyarathne respectively.

The Men’s division two was won by Ajith Krishantha with Priyantha Hapugala and Si Kasturirathna coming in as runner-up and second runner-up respectively.

The Ladies division was won by Suven Selvarathnam with Niloo Jayathilake  and S Ukwatta coming in as runner-up and second runner-up respectively.

The longest drive Men’s division was won byAnura Balasuriya and the Womens division S Ukwatta wining the longest drive. The straightest drive by Hans White. The nearest to pin on the picturesque fourth hole was won by Jerome Schockman and the nearest to the pin in two on the short par four fifth hole was won by Nishan Navarathne who eagled the hole.

The awards distribution was intertwined with a raffle draw that saw some fantastic prizes. A weekend for second at Kandyan Manor, a return air ticket to any destination in the GCC with the courtesy of Sri Lankan Airlines were some of the exciting prizes on hand.

The sponsors of this gala event were Shan Auto Lanka Pvt Ltd, Entrust Securities, Jabra, HSBC, Senok, Hutch, Kandyan Manor, Frico, Sri Lankan Airlines, Trade Ventures and Red Bull.

Julien Arnolda, the President of the Lankan Golfers UAE Society speaking at the event thanked all sponsors and participants and mentioned that this would now be an annual event on the Sri Lankan golfing calendar.

If the inaugural event is anything to go by, it would indeed be an event eagerly awaited by the local golfing community that will be hungry to experience this unique brand of golfing hospitality brought to Sri Lanka by the Lankan Golfers UAE.