Prabagaran was third time lucky when he was forced to a sudden-death play-off by Thangaraja when the two professionals on the PGTI tied on 10 under par after 72 holes.
Praba had a slender 1 stroke lead at the start of the round on 9 under par and maintained the same lead after the 9th hole. Thangaraja produced 3 Birdies in the next 4 holes to lead Prabagaran by 2 shots playing the 15th hole. Thangaraja double bogeyed the 17th to tie with Prabagaran on 10 under par whilst the Defending Champion Anura Rohana was just 1 stroke behind the leaders on 9 under par.
Mithun Perera had an even par round to remain in 4th position whilst M Arumugam and Lalith Kumara were the only two players to score below par in the final round. Arumugam finished in 5th place behind the ‘Pro PGTI’ golf professionals and 8 strokes further behind in 6th place were Lalith Kumara (RCGC Pro) and Zen Darmaratne who is on the Malaysian Pro circuit. Zaffar Sikkander was the best placed youngster finishing in 07th place tied with K. Chnadradasa (RCGC Pro)and Sisira Kumara.
The UTE-Cat sponsored Sri Lanka Open Golf Championship 2013 played in 2014 due to non-availability of the Sri Lankan Pros who were on tour, produced the most historic record when the ‘sudden-death play-off’ was administered for the 1st time in the history of the Sri Lanka Open Golf Championship since 1970.The nail biting tense finish watched by the eager participants and spectators produced an anti-climax with the pressure of the situation overcoming both professionals and eventually Prabagaran winning with a bogey to Thangaraja’s double bogey.
The enthralling final day’s play was followed by a simple prize giving ceremony graced by the CEO of title sponsors Mr.Riyad Ismail, President of the SLGU Mr.Lal Dias, The Captain of the host club Mr.Nimal Piyarathne, Chairman-UTE Mr.Priath Fernando and Ms.Tiru Jesudasan the only Sri Lankan lady golfer who played on the Ladies Pro Tour (LPG Tour) who gave away the trophies.
UTE-Cat Sri Lanka Open was organized by the Sri Lanka Golf Union under the able guidance of the honorary secretary Ana Punchihewa with the able assistance of Jagath and Mahinda representing RCGC.
The RCGC course was in excellent shape and the tournament committee can take credit for the great ground conditions. The 2013 Championship was co-sponsored by CML-MTD Construction Ltd and the purse of Rs.1 Million was appropriately distributed among the top 41 players who made the cut off and completed the 4 rounds.
Special awards were given to the members who participated in UTE-Cat Challenge Trophy where the youngsters dominated the major categories with Sachin De Silva winning the UTE-Cat Challenge Trophy with the best aggregate two rounds gross score. Zaffar Sikkander was the runner-up and between the two youngsters they picked up the best gross and net score prizes alternatively. However over the 4 rounds Zaffar finished ahead of Sachin De Silva.
In the Ladies category Niloo Jayathilake won the Pam Fernando Challenge Trophy for the best aggregate gross score on a count back having tied with Jane Hong on the same score of 164.
Seven time winner and Defending Champion Anura Rohana finished in 3rd place just 1 stroke behind the top two and will have to wait another year at least to establish his personal record of 8 wins to be the player with the highest number of wins in the Sri Lanka Open Golf Championship as he is tied on 7 wins with the veteran Nandasena Perea who did not participate this year.
“In the last two years I was the runners up of the UTE Challenge Trophy and playing with much confidence I was able to win the trophy this time” Kandhasami Prabakaran briefed about his history in the tournament. Facing the open golf championships, 2014 Kandhasami was much confident soon after his Indian tour: Professional Golf Tour of India. “Having a good form this season, my performance in India was better as well,” he added. Yet the competition for Kandhasami was the same since last tournament. The highlighting performance which helped his victory was recorded in the first round of the tournament. Yet Thangara – the main competitor to Kandhasami– was also closing up on the lead in the following days. After the first even Thangaraja was able to beat Kandhasami in the total but finally at the 17th tall Kandhasami was able to catch up walking away with the championship.
Mr. Lal Dias thanking ‘UTE CAT’ for being the official sponsor of the event for third time also dedicated his special gratitude to the Fernando family for the golf supplies. “There was a an immense participation this year. And most of all we are happy announce 80 participants were qualified for the last round. So I think we are reaching the plans of making this event a truly international event in the years to come. And I’m really proud of the organizations such as UTE who has come forward to sponsor the sport for the less privileged taking Sri Lankan Golf standards to international level. Even today many of the winners are les priviagled,” he noted.
Final Scores of UTE Cat Sri Lanka Open Golf Championship 2013
274 – Winner (Sudden-Death)- N Prabagaran
274 – Runnerup (Sudden-Death)- N Thangaraja
275 – Anura Rohana
280 – Mithun Perera
285 – M Arumugam
293 – Lalith Kumara, Zen Darmaratne
295 – Sisira Kumara, K Chandradasa, Zaffar Sikkander
296 – N Ranga
297 – R Pathmanatha , J.M.D Indika, M.Amarapathma
301 – R Sureshan, G.M Pradeep Kumara
303 – K. Soundarajan
304 – Sachin De Silva
305 – Prashan Pieris, M.U Chanaka Perera, J.J Kumar
306 – P Hemantha
307 – G Harisson
UTE-Cat Challenge Trophy (Men) 2014
Winner – Sachin De Silva (144 gross)
Runner up – Zaffar Sikkander (146 gross)
Pam Fernando Challenge Trophy (Ladies) 2014
Winner – Niloo Jayathilaka (164 gross)
Runner up – Jane Hong (164 gross)
