Golfing 'ace' Thuhashini shines as an amateur in USA

by Lal Gunesekera

Former Sri Lanka amateur golf champion Thuhashini Selvaratnam, has kept her country's flag flying high on the amateur circuit in the USA. Recently, she did exceptionally well to enter the final of the US Mid-Amateur Championships at Old Waverly Golf Club, West Point in Missisipi where 132 players competed for honours. She was a semi-finalist in 2004 in Tennesse.

This tournament conducted since 1987 by the United States Golf Association (USGA) began with two medal rounds after which the field was cut to the low 64 players who then figure in the main match-play.

Thuhashini carded 74 and 75 in the medal rounds in the 6,151-yard par 72 Course and was placed third among the 64 players to be placed in the bottom half of the draw for the match-play.

Thuhashini won the first and second-round matches quite comfortably beating Marci Zweifel (Orlando, Fla) 6 and 5 and Suzi Spotleson (Canton, Ohio) 7 and 5 respectively. Then in the third-round, the Sri Lankan beat Kelly Sohaub (Denver, Colo) on the 19th hole to reach the quarter-finals.

In the "quarters", Thuhashini beat Mari Miezwa of Brooklyn Park, Minnisota 2-up with Birdies on the 16th and 17th Holes. She then met the hot favourite Virginia Grimes of Missisipi a three-times USA Curtis Cup team member whom she beat 2 and 1 to advance into the final, but was unfortunate to lose to Megan Bolger of Oxford, Missisipi 5 and 4.

Attached to the Arizona State Golf Association (ASGA), Thuhashini, was the State's amateur champion for four consecutive years (2000 to 2003) and was also Arizona State's Player of the Year from 2001 to 2003. She also won the Arizona State Stroke-Play Championships for four consecutive years (2000 to 2003) and won the Club Championships of the Desert Hills Golf Club, Arizona in 2003, besides representing Arizona State in Match-play tournaments for a number of years.

Her most successful season in Sri Lanka was in 1999-2000 when she won seven national titles within nine months before leaving for the USA. They were the Sri Lanka amateur (for the third time), Singapore Open, Hong Kong Open, China Open, Thai Open, All-India Open and Emirates Open. She was the runner-up at the Malaysian Open during the same period, but won the Epson Sourjana Open.