It was undoubtedly one of the most joyous days for the people in the heart of the central highlands of Sri Lanka. Hopes were high with the home hero dominating the first three rounds and amidst a ‘happy’ home crowd and the rendering of ‘fire crackers’ K. Prabagaran comfortably clinched the Sri Lanka Open by seven strokes. This excellent golfer won the prestigious and only ‘Golf Open’ Championship which provides the platform to talented golfers who are non-members of any recognized golf club to display their skills and bring glory to Sri Lanka.
Softlogic Holdings, Principal Sponsor of Sri Lanka Open 2017 facilitated the conduct of the Sri Lanka Open in Nuwara Eliya after a lapse of many years and Prabagaran’s win was icing on the cake for the home crowd.
Currently Prabagaran, Mithun Perera, Anura Rohana, Thangaraja, Vijitha Bandara and Lalith Kumara play on the PGTI (Professional Golf Tour of India) and they are worthy ambassadors for Sri Lanka with Anura Rohana currently ranked 4th in the PGTI and Mithun, Thanga & Praba winning on the PGTI.
Prabagaran the home hero won the Sri Lanka Open for the 3rd time, having won in 2014 & 2015 at the RCGC. The Sri Lanka Open prize purse of Rs.1,000,000.00 guaranteed by the Sri Lanka Golf Union, was facilitated by the Principal Sponsor Softlogic Holdings, Co-sponsor CAT Solar – UTE, whilst goodwill sponsorship from caring good golfers and Elephant House Ice Cream, contributed to the successful completion of the 2017 Sri Lanka Open.
Anura Rohana & Mithun Perera fought until the last swing to make their way to the top but settled for second place and eventually tied for the joint runner-up. Anura Rohana returned the best card of 67, 4 under par, for the final round to force a tie for runner-up with Mithun. Incidentally Anura Rohana who was looking for his record 8th Win and Mithun trying to win the Sri Lanka Open for the 1st time are both sponsored by Softlogic Holdings group on the Professional Tour.
The top eight places in the Sri Lanka Open 2017 was dominated by the six professionals whilst the leading Amateur duo B A Sanjeewa & G P Sisira Kumara finished in joint 4th & 6th respectively.
SOFTLOGIC gifted a special prize to B A Sanjeewa for a spectacular achievement in the 2nd Round of the Sri Lanka Open 2017 when this talented golfer ‘Holed-in-One’ on the Par 3, tough 15th hole.
The special prize of “Softlogic Prism TV” and the winners cheque was presented to the winner Prabagaran by Mrs Niloo Jayathilaka who represented Softlogic Holdings on behalf of Mr Ashok Pathirage, Chairman Softlogic Holdings PLC.
Maj Gen.(Rtd) Srinath Rajapakse the President of the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, spoke on behalf of the host Club and expressed his gratitude to the SLGU for organizing the Sri Lanka Open in NEGC after a lapse and requested to play this prestigious event in NEGC annually.
President SLGU Mr. Priath Fernando speaking on the occasion thanked the NEGC Captain and the Committee for the support extended to conduct a successful Open Championship. Mr Piyath Fernando also thanked the NEGC Secretary, Staff and especially the ground staff for the smooth arrangements. The President NEGC Srinath & Captain NEGC Firaz Hameed gave away the runner-up prizes to the Joint 2nd place finishers Mithun Perera & Anura Rohana. The Winners Champion Sri Lanka Open Trophy was awarded by the President SLGU Priath Fernando to Prabagaran.
The CAT SOLAR Pin Fernando Grand Prix sponsored by UTE for 2017, August edition played concurrently was won by B A Sanjeewa by one stroke from G P Sisira Kumara who celebrated his birthday with an Even Par 71 to also clinch joint 6th place with top Pro Tour Professional N. Thangaraja in the Sri Lanka Open. M U Chanaka Perera finished in 3rd place.
Another day of Golf clubs, fresh air and picture perfect strokes in the hill side concluded marking the end of the Sri Lankan Open 2017. Until next time Golf on!
FINAL RESULTS SRI LANKA OPEN 2017 – TOP TEN
274 – K. Prabagaran (65,71,69,69) WINNER
281 – R A Anura Rohana (69,74,71, 67,) Mithun Perera (73, 71, 69, 68)
291 – B G Lalith Kumara, B A Sanjeewa
292 – N Thangaraja, G P Sisira Kumara
305 -Vijitha Bandara, R Pathmanathan
307 – K. Soundarajan, M U Chanaka Perera
FINAL SCORES CAT SOLAR PIN FERNANDO GRAND PRIX AUGUST EDITION
291 – B A Sanjeewa
292 – G P Sisira Kumara
307 – M U Chanaka Perera
309 – J M D Indika, T Akash
311 – N Amarapadma
313- D M P P Bandara
314 – Navinda Ranga
318 – M H Chalitha Pushpika, G M Pradeep Kumara
