Mark Bostock Memorial Golf Tourney May 2nd and 3

by S.M. Jiifrey Abdeen

Victoria Golf and Country Resort will conduct its annual Mark Bostock Memorial Golf Championship 2015 in Memory of its founder Late Mark Bostock at the award winning victoria Golf Course at Rajawella off Kandy on May 2nd and 3rd.

This year's competition will be a 36-hole one played over two rounds for two days and the winner for the Net and Gross will be decided on the best aggregate over the two rounds.

The events which will be worked off are as follow:

Best Gross Score (Ladies) Best Gross Score (Men), Best Net Score (Ladies), Best Net Score (Men), Nearest to the Pin (Ladies), Nearest to the pin (men), Longest Drive - (Ladies), Longest Drive (Men).

This Championship was played in 2008 and has attracted a large number of both local at foreign golfers.

The previous winners of this championship were:

2008: Chris Halloway, 2009 - Fazly Ahamed, 2010 -Johan Taylor

2011: Bo Linberq, 2012 - Sidath Wettimuny, 2013 - Harin Udeshi, 2013 - Gooddren Staggan.

Only lady to win Weodress Steggun who won it last year and she will be there this year to defend this prestigious title.

It must be recalled that it was the vision of late Mark Bostock that gave birth to this wonderful golf course which has won many international awards and also ranked among the 100 most beautiful golf courses in the world. The birth of this golf course was by design or by accident only Mark Bostock will be able to unravel this mystery. It was during one of his visits to Mahabenatenna Group off Digana on the banks of the Victoria Reservoir, he dreamt of a golf course on his beautiful Coconut Estate. He knew that this project could be a major tourist attraction at a time the country was plagued by terrorism. That was in the early nineteens.

But there was opposition from both Trade Unions and the environmentalists but Mark Bostock overcame all this opposition, using good strategy, replacing line rooms with modern cottages for the workers sent them off balance.

When the designs showed that all the features of the nature will be retained in the course and also it will generate a lot of employment for the youth of the area. The other factors look a back seat. The living conditions of all living in the area showed a marked improvement.

The golf course was designed by Donald Steel and opened for golfers in 1998. Since then, it has won the prestigious award. The Best Golf Course in the Sub Continent 9 times in 12 years which has brought honour to this country by leaps and bounds and put this country in the golfing map of the world. This 558-acre golf course has all the features like mountain biking guest houses, tennis, Pony rides, and the main attraction being golf'.

Old days high powered cars and even Formula cars participated at these races but after sometime there have been some restriction imposed on them in the best interest of motor sport and the safety of all concerned.

Some of the top drivers who will be seen in action are Hafiz Cader, Ajith Keerthi, Susantha Gunawardena, Kandan Parameswaran, Lakmal wijeratne, Michael Wijesuriya, Dammika Peiris.

Among the top drives who have entered are Madurange Caldera, Sarath Kumarasinghe, Suraj Perera, Mark Shama, K.D. Sudasinghe and Vikum Ranjith who has participated at this event for 30 years.