The Sri Lanka Golf Inaugural Inter-Club Golf Championship, ‘Tees-Off’ is to be held in conjunction with the Bally’s Sri Lanka Open and is set to kick off on the 31st of January 2016 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club course. The event will continue for 6 days till the 5th of February 2016.
Seven teams will be teeing off to win the Inaugural Sri Lanka Inter Club Golf Championship Challenge Shield. The teams will consist of 25 players each. They will be representing the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, Victoria Golf & Country Resort, Eagles Golf Links, Sandy Bay Golf Links and Army Golf Club Diyatalawa, with the home club, Royal Colombo Golf Club fielding two teams for the tournament. The Inter-Club tournament is to be conducted in the aggressive Stable Ford points system. The best 11 scores from each team will be carried forward and the team with the Best Total Aggregate score will win the Inaugural Sri Lanka Inter Club Golf Championship Challenge Shield.
The event is organized by the Sri Lanka Golf Union. The Bally’s Sri Lanka Open 2015 has partnered with Bally’s Entertainment as the title sponsor, United Tractor & Equipment (UTE CAT) as the co-sponsor and Associated Motorways – Xtrail & CML Walkers as affiliate sponsors. The total prize money of the tournament has been increased to a whopping Rs. 2,500,000/- with the partnership of the said sponsors.
Having won the Bally’s Sri Lankan Open in both 2013 & 2014, K. Prabagaran is looking to defend his title and make it a three-peat. Anura Rohana, who is tied with Sri Lankan Golf Legend, Nandasena Perera on 7 wins each, attempts to win the Open for a record 8th time. A note-worthy appearance is N. Thangarajah, a winner of the Indian Pro Golf Tour who will be making an effort to secure the Open for the first time. Lalith Kumara, Vijitha Bandara, Jehan De Saram (who is a RCGC Club Pro), K. Chandradasa, Sisira Kumara and N. Ranga will also be vying for their first win. Professional golfers playing in the Indian Pro Tour will also be participating in this tournament. The International players will be Sandeep Syal, M. Dharma, Saqib Ahmed, Manav Jaini and Pradyumna Barbora who will be representing the Indian Pro Tour, with Aadil Jahangir and Wasim Rana representing Pakistan.
The absence of Mithun Perera is notable in the Bally’s Sri Lankan Open as he is currently playing the US$ One Million Singapore Open, which is a joint Sanction Tournament of the Asian Tour & Japanese Tour 2016. Mithun will be flying the Sri Lankan flag high, playing alongside the top Golfing Pro’s in the world, including Jordan Speiths who is currently ranked number 1 in the USPGA. Mithun was ranked 20th in the Asian Golf Tour in 2015. Sri Lankan Golf looks ready to step forward to the next level with five Pro’s playing the Full Indian Golf Tour Card.
The Bally’s Sri Lanka Open 2015 is breaking new ground for Pro Golf to be established in Sri Lanka, thus promoting the game and Sri Lankan Golfers to greater heights. This will in turn further the advancement of Golf Tourism in Sri Lanka as well.
