Mithun Perera in the lead

By S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen, Kandy Sports Corr.

GOLF: Sri Lanka's golfing champion Mithun Perera was in the lead in the gross division for men at the 12th SriLankan Airlines Golf Classic organised by the Victoria Golf and Country Resort and sponsored by SriLankan Airlines which is being currently worked off at the Victoria Golf course at Rajawella off Kandy.

Mithun Perera playing to a handicap of plus 2 and playing for the first time in this tournament got a brilliant 75 points in the all entries category. Highlight of his play was 6 on the course par. He is followed by Chris Holloway with 74 points playing to a handicap of 14. In third place was Anura Danthanarayana with 71 (Handicap 21). The fourth and fifth places were occupied by Pauline Morley also 71 and Sam Gunaratne 71 with these three positions being decided on a count back of the last nine holes when the scores being tied at 71.

Mithun Perera looks set to win the plum unless there is some upset in the next two rounds in the second batch.

All entries scores

1. Mithun Perera 75, 2. Chris Holloway 74, 3. Anura Danthanarayana 71, 4. Paulino Morley 71, 5. Sam Gunaratne 71, 6. Dhanuk Amerasinghe 67, 7. Alain Gyi 66, 8. Sonia Boylo 64, 9. Chamil Wickremasinghe 64, 10. Rohan de Silva 63.

Senior ladies

Paulino Morley was in the lead with 71 points in the above championship followed by Sonia Boyle with 64 points. In third place was Jyoti Haynes with 59 points and Mario Evens 58 and Doss Ponn 57 occupied the fourth and fifth places.

The placings were same as above in the 36 holes ladies Net Division with Paulino Morley lead with 71 points playing to a handicap of 29.

Ladies Gross

Pat Rodgers from the United Kingdom led the 36 holes Ladies Gross Division with an excellent 40 points and she was followed by Sonia Boyle with 36 points. In third slot was Sarah Maber with 22 points. Pauline Morkey with 25 points and Dess Pen with 23 points coupled the fourth and fifth places.

Men's Gross

Sri Lanka's Mithun Perera was once again in the lead in the above championship with 75 points and in second place was Alain Gyi with 60 points. The next eight positions were coupled by Chamil Wickremasinghe 52 points, Sam Gunaratne 51 points, Ian Tait 50 points, Chris Holloway 47 points, Maruous Saheek 38 points, Ronald Fosco 37 points, Rohan de Silva 36 points, Sidath Hemachandra 35 points.

Junior Championship

1) Dhanuk Amerasinghe 67 points, 2) Chamil Wickremasinghe 64 points, 3) Vidush Rajendran 42 points.

Senior Men's

Chris Holloway was in the lead in the above competition with 74 points. In second place was Anura Dantanarayana with 71 points. The next eight places were occupied by Rohan Athureliya 63 points, Ian Tait 61 pts. Sirath Kasthuriratne 60 pts, S. M. A. Hameed 59 pts, Ronald Fasco 58 pts, Helmut Suchy 58 pts, Richard Abdeen 57 pts, Errol Johnston 56 pts.

Men's Net

Mithun Perera took up his third lead in the competition with a fine 40 net and Anura Dantanarayana followed with 38, Chris Holloway with 37. The next 7 places were occupied by Dhanuk Amerasinghe 37, Sidath Hemachandra 37, Sam Gunaratne 34, Alain Gyi 33, Rohan de Silva 33, S. M. A. Hameed 31, Errol Johnston 30.

A total of 210 golfers took off in this championship with a very large number of foreigners. The championship is still wide open and the final winners will be decided on completion of the second round of the batch two.