Royal to defend Bradby Golf title against Trinity

Trinity and Royal Golf in their Inaugural Year

The teams in 2017

 Trinity and Royal Golf Teams 2018

By Shamseer Jaleel

The old boys of Royal will go out determined to defend the G C Wickremesinghe Challenge trophy which they won in 2018.

Royalists under Andy Anderson won the event in 2018. The old boys from Trinity won the inaugural two events in 2016 and 2017.

The annual encounter is expected to feature over 50 renowned golfers and will tee off on 10 May with two shotgun starts (7 a.m. and 1 p.m.) at the picturesque Victoria Golf and Country Resort, the official host club for this event.

This year the Trinity outfit will be led by the Trinity Rugby Captain for 2004/2005 season and crack centre Nishan (B.N.R.) Fernando, now a champion golfer. The old Royalist will be led by evergreen golfer Gamini Jayaweera.  Both of them incidentally were the highest Gross individual winners in 2018 edition for their respective alma-maters.

B.N.R. Fernando, Captain of the Old Trinitians squad, told Daily FT: “I have always associated ‘The Bradby’ during my days as a player and captain to only rugby. But now I am overwhelmed to see so much of great enthusiasm by renowned golfers to take part in the much-looked-forward-to event, Bradby Golf. We hope to field the highest contingent of players from Trinity teeing off to compete for the coveted title this year and it is always a pleasure to host the Royalists in Kandy coinciding with the Bradby Shield, the biggest rugby spectacle that happens in Kandy.”

With the support of distinguished old boys and avid golfers, Trinity has initiated its own Junior Golf program since 2017 and as an official sport with a squad of over 40 young schoolboys undergoing continuous training. It held its first ever inter-house golf competition back in 2018. Bradby Golf will no doubt offer them a further reason to continue the game and represent their alma mater when they leave Trinity apart from various competitions on available.

The  tournament is growing in popularity, aptly termed ‘Bradby Golf,’ the old boys will compete for the coveted G.C. Wickremesinghe Trophy in honour of renowned Royal rugby legend, G.C. Wickremesinghe who appeared as a crack second row forward of the all-conquering 1951 Royal Rugby team which is regarded as being “invincible”. He is an avid golfer and has several golf board events at RCGC under his belt and still tees off at the age of 85 years.

Further any old boys of either school who wish to participate should contact B.N.R. Fernando [email protected] or Gamini Jayaweera ([email protected]) on or before 30 April.