The 11th consecutive Prima Sunrise Bread Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship concluded at the Royal Colombo Golf Club on Friday, crowning Vinod Weerasinghe & Taniya Minel Balasuriya Boys’ & Girls’ Junior Open Golf Champion respectively for 2018.
Photos: Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship 2018 – Prize Giving
“It is great to see so many talented Junior Golfers coming through the Junior Open Golf Championship and the high standard of Golf produced especially by the two Champions Vinod in the Boys’ & Taniya Minel in the Girls’” said Mr. Tan Beng Chuan, Chief Guest and Prima Group General Manager, the proud Sponsor for the 11th consecutive year, since 2008.
Vinod captured the Junior Boys’ Championship for the 3rd consecutive year and will be eligible to defend his title once again next year. Vinod carded a 72 (one over par) final round, his best score in the 2018 championship to seal a comfortable victory by 18 strokes from runner-up Haroon Aslam of Victoria Golf & Country Resort. Haroon ensured his Runner-up position nine strokes clear of Dhuwarshan the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club representative and 2017 Junior Open Silver Division Winner.
Taniya Minel Balasuriya continued her consistent form, carding a 72 (one over par) in the final round to become the Sri Lanka Junior Open Girls champion for the second consecutive year, by an outstanding 17 strokes from Kayla Perera who returned a 2 under par second round score, which was the best score returned in the 2018 Championship.
The ever improving Nirekh Tejwani won the Silver division for Boys, by a clear 11 strokes from regular rival in the same division Yannik Kumara, leading the field from start to finish, but sealed the victory with an excellent 3 over par 74 in the final round, having held a slender 2 stroke advantage going into the final day. Danushan was also not too far behind in 3rd place, as he was just 2 strokes behind the Runner-up and three strokes ahead of Levon Niyarepola in 4th place.
Shanal Binushka ensured victory in the Bronze Division with a final round of 67, to hold on to a 3 stroke win from Reshan Algama, in second place. The top two in the Bronze division drew clear of the rest of the field with Kvahn Tejwani and Kaya Daluwatte securing 3rd & 4th place respectively 15 and 16 strokes adrift of the Runner-up. The Bronze Division played over 14 holes and three rounds, comprises future talent who are well accomplished for their age category of 10 – 11+ years.
In the Copper division for juniors aged 9+ and under, played over 9 holes and three rounds. Dharaniyan of Nuwara Eliya Golf Club maintained the lead from start to finish and won by 4 strokes from Varun Fernando and T Deshan, with just 5 strokes separating the top three.
An excellent turn-out of juniors with over 75 participants in the five different age category segments, displaying immense talent and potential to become stars for the future of Sri Lankan Golf. PRIMA Group have supported and sponsored the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship for the 11th consecutive year, and have added the sponsorship of a new event named the Hambantota Regional Junior Open Golf Championship to be played at the Shangri la Hambantota Golf Course in early March 2019.
“The development of Junior Golf is the platform to produce the top Sri Lankan stars for the future, and the Golf Union could not have conducted the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship so successfully for 11 years consecutively without our Sponsor Prima Group, promoters of Prima Sunrise Bread” said Ms. Niloo Jayatilake, Chairperson Junior Sub-Committee Sri Lanka Golf.
The enthusiastic prize giving followed the morning Golf and the Chief Guest & Principal Sponsor Mr. Tan Beng Chuan, Prima Group General Manager, Mr. Sajith Gunaratne, Deputy General Manager, Ceylon Agro Industries, accompanied by the President Sri Lanka Golf Union Rtd Air Vice Marshall Harsha Abeywickrama gave away the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship Trophy to Vinod & Taniya Minel the Boys’ & Girls’ winner respectively. Hony. Secretary SLGU Mr. Nishan Navaratne, Mr. John Scarth, SLGU Junior Golf Committee member, also gave away the Prizes.
PRIMA SUNRISE BREAD the generous sponsors, promoting Junior Golf also presented gift packs to all participants and tournament officials who ensured a highly successful 2018 Junior Open Golf Championship. The Junior Golf Sub- Committee, headed by Chairperson Ms. Niloo Jayatilake, supported by Mr. Chandana Weerasinghe, Mr. John Scarth, deserve much credit for the time and effort contributed towards promoting Junior Golf in Sri Lanka.
2018 SRI LANKA JUNIOR OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS AT A GLANCE
SPONSORED BY PRIMA SUNRISE BREAD
Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship Winner Boys’ –Vinod Weerasinghe
Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship Winner Girls’ – Taniya Minel Balasuriya
Gold Division (Age 15- 18+ Boys)
Winner- Vinod Weerasinghe 220 (73, 75, 72)
Runner-up – Haroon Aslam (VGCR) 238 (77, 77, 84)
3rd – S. Duwarshan 247 (80, 84, 83)
4th – Dilshan Malinda 260 (88, 84, 88)
Gold & Silver Division combined – Girls’
Winner – Taniya Minel Balasuriya 217 (72, 72, 73)
Runner-up – Kayla Perera 234 (80, 70, 84)
3rd – Sherin Mithara Balasuriya 249 (84, 83, 82)
4th – Arika Wickramasinghe 273 (90, 88, 95)
Silver Division Boys (Age 12-14+)
Winner- Nirekh Tejwani 230 (78, 78, 74)
Runner-up – Yannik Kumara 241 (81, 77, 83)
3rd – K. Danushan 243 (81, 80, 82)
4th – Levon Niyarepola 246 (83, 81, 82)
Bronze Division Boys & Girls (Age 10 -11+) 14 Holes per Round
Winner – N W G Shanal Binushka 203 (74, 62, 67)
Runner-up – Reshan Algama 206 (75, 67, 64)
3rd – Kvahn Tejwani 221 (75, 69, 77)
4th – Kaya Daluwatte 222 (75, 70, 77)
Copper Division Boys & Girls (Age 09 & under) 09 Holes per Round
Winner – C. Dharaniyan (NEGC) 127 (43, 41, 43)
Runner-up – Varun Fernando 131 (44, 42, 45)
3rd – T. Deshan 132 (45, 43, 44)
4th – Thejas Rathis Kanth 137 (46, 42, 49)
5th – Keshav Algama 144 (45, 49, 50)
