The 11th consecutive Prima Sunrise Bread Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship concluded at the Royal Colombo Golf Club on Friday, crowning Vinod Weerasinghe and Taniya Minel Balasuriya the Junior Open Golf Champions respectively for 2018 in the Boys and Girls categories respectively.
“It is great to see so many talented young golfers coming through the Junior Open Golf Championship and the high standard of Golf showcased especially by the two Champions Vinod and Taniya Minel”, said. Tan Beng Chuan, the Chief Guest and the General Manager of the Prima Group, the proud Sponsor of the event 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 the Victoria Golf & Country Resort. Haroon ensured his Runner-up position nine strokes clear of Dhuwarshan the representative from the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, who was the winner of the 2017 Junior Open Silver Division.
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, followed 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 in the Boys category by a clear 11 strokes, despite his regular rival in the same division Yannik Kumara leading the field from start to finish, but Nirekh sealed the victory with an excellent 3 over par 74 in the final round, having held a slender 2 stroke advantage going in to 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 who secured 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, who came 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 and 4th place respectively, 15 and 16 strokes adrift of the Runner-up. The Bronze Division played over 14 holes and three rounds comprised of promising future talent from youngsters, 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, C. Dharaniyan of the 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.
“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- the Prima Group, the promoters of Prima Sunrise Bread” said Ms. Niloo Jayatilake, the Chairperson of the Junior Sub-Committee Sri Lanka Golf.
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)
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