Binupa Wijesinghe off to US for studies and golf

by Lal Gunesekera

GOLF: One of Sri Lanka's most promising young amateurs Binupa Wijesinghe, who turns 17 years on Friday (December 29), leaves for the USA on January 2 to undergo further studies at the Scotsballe Community College in the State of Arizona for a period of 1 1/2 years for a course in business management, but will continue with his golf and make himself available to play for the country if the need arises.

Scotsballe is more like a High School and has one of the best golf teams among the schools in USA. Speaking to the Sunday Observer a few moments before he left for Bangalore with Sanjay Wettimuny today (Sunday) for the All-India Junior Open Championship, he said that his best years were in 2004 and 2005.

He said: "I am certainly playing much better this year, but was restricted in the last two months due to the London Ordinary Level examinations". He was a student at the American College, but was earlier at Wycherly International School in Colombo.

Young Wijesinghe won the Milo Sri Lanka Junior Open title for the second consecutive year last week and the most significant feature was that he won the event in both years by 15 shots from his closest rival.

This year has been quite a successful one for Wijesinghe. He won the Junior Open at the Victoria Golf Club in Kandy, two monthly medals at the Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) and was runner-up to Mithun Perera (son of the illustrious K. A. Nandasena Perera) at the RCGC Championships.

Last year (2005), Wijesinghe won the Nuwara-Eliya Golf Club's Junior Championships as well as the Donald Steele Trophy at Victoria Golf Club where he was runner-up by just one shot this year. He won a lot of "Board Events" at the RCGC too last year, including the South West Monsoon Championships.

This year (2006), Wijesinghe, fared pretty well on the international circuit finishing within the top 10 at many tournaments, including runner-up berths. He was runner-up at the Singapore Junior Open and together with Sanjay Wettimuny were second runners-up in the Team Event.

At the Thailand Junior Masters young Wijesinghe finished within the top 10 and played really well on the final day with one over par, after being eight or nine over earlier rounds. He also played in Indonesia and India.

The biggest tournament that Wijesinghe has played so far was the World Junior Championships in Scotland in 2004 where he finished 14th in the under-16 age group when 14 years of age. He was runner-up at the All-India Junior Open at Calcutta in 2004 and represented Sri Lanka at the All-India Open Amateur Championships in Delhi in 2005 together with Tissa Chandradasa, K. Prabagaran and Mithun Perera. Here Wijesinghe reached the third-round.

Then at the Sri Lanka Open Amateur Championships last year (2005) at Victoria Golf Club, Kandy, Wijesinghe, finished within the top 10. He was runner-up at the Pakistan Junior Open Championships in Karachi in 2004.

Young Binupa Wijesinghe was introduced to golf in only 2002 in England by his uncle Dayasiri Muthumala who is living in London. Muthumala worked as an accountant for the UN in London, and leads a retired life at the moment, playing golf in Sri Lanka during the winter and in England during the Summer.

During the Summer, Wijesinghe, visits London regularly and also the USA where he attended the David Leedbetter Academy in Florida.

He also attended the branch of the David Leedbetter Academy in Singapore regularly and came under Andrew Oliphant, who is now attached to the Academy in Florida.

Wijesinghe first attended the Junior Clinic at the RCGC under Mrs. Radha Sunderampillai and had his advanced training under Pheroze Billimoria who was then the RCGC professional now at Waters Edge. Wijesinghe comes under the present RCGC professional David Glenn now.

He owes his success to his parents. His father, Aruna, is a Flight Engineer with Japan Airlines, and his mother Samanthi (nee Hettiaratchi) a former national badminton champion, who extend their fullest support to young Binupa, whose elder brother Dishan (21) is the Athletic captain of the University of Toronto in Canada and studying genetic engineering.

He was also the Games Captain at Wycherly International School in Colombo before he left for Canada about 2 1/2 years back.