Donald Steel Golf starts on Feb 11 at Victoria

S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN - Kandy Sports Correspondent at Victoria

GOLF: A full field of top golfers in the country and abroad will take the field when the 14th Annual Donald Steel Golf Championship 2012 organised and sponsored by the Victoria Golf and Country Resort gets under way at the picturesque Victoria golf course at Rajawella off Kandy on Saturday, February 11th with the first 'tee off' at 7.30 a.m.

According to reports over sixty golfers have indicated their desire to compete in this prestigious golf championship which will be for ladies and gentlemen golfers with separate competitions for them.

A peep into the history or Victoria Golf Course, this golf course for golfers was opened in 1999 and Donald Steel Golf Championship heralded the new golf course with a record number of golfers which was only the third one at that time in Sri Lanka.

About Donald Steel, he is a world renowned golf architect and the President of the Professional Golfers Union in the United Kingdom and he designed this course on a 558 acre coconut plantation. The designs were implemented by former Thomian cricketer and planter Tony Witham who now heads the Sri Lanka Golf Union.

Since then this golf course has grown in stature and within a few years, it got into the ranks of 100 most beautiful golf courses in the world and also went beyond it by winning the award for the 'Best Golf Course in the Sub-Continent" four times since the year 2012 when this award was inaugurated. They are also the current holders of this award having won it last in 2011. This competition is conducted by the Asian Golf Digest a prestigious journal exclusively on golf which is widely read the world over.

Ian Tait - current champion

The main championship will be the Donald Steel Trophy which is awarded to the gentleman golfer with the Best Gross Total. The current champion is Englishman Ian Tait who has earned a name for himself at Victoria with his glittering performances in the past in many competitions. The past winners of this championship are:

1999-Chamath Kulasinghe, 2000-David Griffith, 2001-Martin Ebert, 2002- Alain Gyi, 2003-Martin Ebert, 2004-Martin Ebert, 2005-Binupa Wijesingha, 2006-Romesh Abeyaratne, 2007-Sujeewa Lankatillaka, 2008-Sidath Wettimuni, 2009-Ian Tait, 2010-Ian Tait, 2011-Ian Tait.

From the above record it could be seen that Ian Tait is the only golfer who has won this championship for three years in-a row. He is a versatile sportsman having played cricket and rugby for Cheshire and also excelled in swimming and tennis. One of the co-designers of the course Martin Ebert has won it three times. The youngest to win was teenager Binupa Wijesinghe at 16-years and the oldest is 68 year old Ian Tait who is an epitome of fitness and could give opponents a gruelling time, if they are to battle for the decider.

The other championship event for men is the Ebert Pot awarded for the gentleman golfer with the Best net score.

For the ladies the plum is the Pan Fernando Trophy named after the greatest lady golfer this country has seen Pan Fernando who passed away recently but left an indelible mark on the golfing scene with her sazzling performances and her son Priath is there to carry on her work in the field of golf administration in addition to playing golf. The second trophy on offer is the Victoria Bowl offered to the lady golfer with the Best Net total. This championship was first played in 2001 with Sally Collins as inaugural winner. Some of the past winners are twice by Roshni Sangani and Pauline Morley, once by Usha de Silva, Indira Tibblins, Niloo Jayatillake, Sandie McAndrew, Suwen Selvaratnam.

The Pan Fernando Trophy has been largely dominated by that versatile golfer Suwen Selvaratnam who was the first winner and followed up with five more wins. Another top golfer Niloo Jayatillaka too has sparkled in this competition by winning it four times.

But the best ever performance in this competition has been by Thuhashini Selvaratnam, in the year 2006 when she out paced the other golfers to win by a comfortable margin. The same year her mother won the Victoria Bowl. Thuhashini Selvaratnam is now going great guns in the United States.

Top golfers

Donald Steel Championship should see top golfers like the defending champion Ian Tait who is hell bent in making it four in a row this year followed by captain Damindra Fernando, Sam Gunaratne, Rohitha Batapolage, Richal Hameed, Chris Holloway, Errol Johnston, Christie Thornton, Martin Ebert, Thusith Wijesinghe, Sirath Kasthuriratne Mike Holloway, Suren Wass, Tony Witham, Nug de Silva, Mike Penn, Rohan de Silva, Veinert Holm, Sachy Helmut, Sunil Jayakoddy and many others.

The Pan Fernando trophy should see a titanic battle between Suwen Selvaratnam and Niloo Jayatillake and both golfers have excelled in this competition in the past. There will be also in the running lady golfers like Manori Jayakoddy, Denali de Zoysa, Sonia Boyle, Pauline Morley, Jyoti Haynes, Linda Harris, Margarot Ponn, Triud Holloways, Fran de Mel, Ingrid Baum, Indira Tibblin, Mayumi Kokschreen, Lillian Perera, and Chris Benjamin just to name a few.

The entries are still open for local and foreign golfers and those interested could contact Marketing Executive Dhanshika Medagoda on mobile 0727840894 or 0777840894 or Pro shop 081-2376376 or log into www.golfsrilanka.lk