Suwaneetha and Sam excel at SriLankan Airlines Golf Classics

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

Suwaneetha Selvaratnam (Women) and Sam Gunaratne (Men) put Sri Lanka's flag up while a journalist from Thailand Khun Monkhol Varee turned overall winner among the men at the SriLankan Airlines Golf Classics 2006 organised by the Victoria Golf and Country Resort and sponsored by Sri Lankan Airlines and co-sponsored by Chivas Regal, Lufthansa Technik, Premadasa Jewellers and Carlsberg and worked off for four days at the picturesque Victoria golf course at Rajawella off Kandy.

The course looked beautiful and was challenging and the visiting golfers from many countries who numbered over 150 were amazed at what course had to offer trimmed into excellent condition under the guidance of General Manager Mike Varney and Course Manager Maheel Bulumulla.

Also playing a major role was Marketing Manager Lalindra Ranaweera, Assistant Manager Operations Sandie McAndrew and Caddic Master Peter Perera and his Assistant K. Sivakumar. The visitors enjoyed every moment of their stay and took away sweet memories and vowed to come back soon with their friends.

The SriLankan Airline too made their domestic travel easy by ferrying them in float planes or air taxis which landed at the Victoria golf course a couple of hundred yards from the Victoria Club House.

This was one of the finest tournaments to be ever held at Victoria and it was four days of exciting golf though it rained a little during the day and there was blowing too which required skills by the golfers to come in terms with it.

This made Chief Executive Officer of the SriLankan Airlines Peter Hill comment at the Awards Ceremony that next year they could invest a software next year to deal with this situation which brought peals of laughter from the audience.

Sam Gunaratne an old boy of Vidyartha College using the cricketing talents in swinging the ball took to golf a few years and has made tremendous impact at Victoria with his dedicated play. He brought honour to his home town Kandy and to the country when he led the Aggregate Hot score from the first two rounds.

In fact he had the best not score of 37 on the second after getting 38 not on the first day which he tied with expatriate Ian Teit but lost on a count back by a whisker. But Sam Gunaratne bounced back to win the title for Best Aggregate Net score with 75 not boating a number of top class foreign golfer.

That versatile golfer Suwaneetha Selvaratnam who has always excelled at Victoria was also the toast of the Sri Lankans when she won the Overall title for Ladies in addition to winning the title for the Best Aggregate Cross Score for Ladies by getting 52 gross and she was also the runner up in the net score competition with 67. She also got the best not score for ladies on day 4 with 67. Thus she took away the plum and brought honour to the country.

The Overall winner of the Mens Division was a journalist from Thailand Khun Monkhol Varee with 62 gross but he was given a tough fight by Englishman Steve Monro who tied up with 62 gross but on a count back to nine Varee emerged winner. Khun Monkhol Varee also won the title for Gross Stableford score for gentlemen with 62 gross and once again Steve Munro was placed second.

The Best Aggregate Net Stableford score title for Ladies was pocketed by Lin Joen Toe of Malaysia with a net score of 72 and she also won the title for Ladies Senior Division and also the Best Net score for day 3.

Another golfer to sparkle was teenager Hesith Jeyawardena, the son of the business tycoon Harry Jeyawardena.

This little boy playing in this competition for the first time put up a brilliant display by winning the Junior Division title and carried away the Carlsberg Trophy and also get the best not score of 41 on day 3 and also won the nearest to the pin title for the third day. A fine start for a youngster and golfing scene should near more of him in the future.

What his pappa is excelling in the field of business, the sonna is doing it in the golfing scene with a brilliant start.

Indira Tibblin started off well by getting the best score on the opening day with a 35 nett but a score of 33 on the second day pushed her into the third slot when in came to Best Aggregate Nett score.

Rochni Sangani another rising star did well to get the best nearest to the pin for ladies on the fourth day, an area which was dominated by English lady Pat Rodgers who won this event on the first two days in addition to winning the longest drive on day 1 for the ladies. She was also runner up in the Best Aggregate for ladies with 41 but way below winner Suwaneetha Selveratnam's 52 gross.

Yvonne Abhayaratne won the longest drive for ladies on day 2 and her son Romesh Abhayaratne did a little better by winning the nearest to the pin on the opening day and was also placed third in the Overall Best Aggregate Gross score with 58 which was close to the winner Khun Monkhol Varee who got 62.

The Awards ceremony which was hold at the Mahaweli Beach Hotel in Katugastota was a star spangled show with Chandana de Silva - the Corporate Head of the SriLankan Airlines making it lively by not only compering the show but also singing his own version of 'Hey Jude' and 'Take a ribbon' in addition to many perennial favourites of Elvis Presley and Engelbert Humperdinck.

Former test cricketer and national selector Sidath Wettimuni popularly known as 'Lord Sid' not to be outdone on popular request sang 'Please Release Me' and also 'Yellow Ribbon' both favourites of Engelbert Humperdinck.

It was a great show and the CEO of SriLankan Airlines Peter Hill in his address thanked the Victoria Golf and Country Resort for a job well done and their association will be there next year too perhaps in a bigger way.

He also thanked the large number of foreign golfers and appealed them to come back with their friends soon to enjoy golf and the SriLankan hospitality where the people are friend with its beautiful hills, beaches and wild life attractions which makes this island a tourists paradise.