Milinda Ratnayake and Roshani Sangani top qualifiers for Pin & Pam Fernando Trophy 2017

The annual feature match play event on handicap, inaugurated in the centenary year 1979 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club in honour of the legendary match play king the late Pin Fernando, concluded its qualifying round for both the Pin Fernando Trophy and the Pam Fernando Trophy event for ladies over the weekend.

United Tractor & Equipment Ltd – UTE combined with CAT SOLAR to sponsor the most popular and interesting event on the RCGC calendar, where the skills of stroke play golf and the nerves of match play combine.

The qualifying round for the 2017 battle for supremacy saw some amazing scores returned, with Milinda Ratnayake carding an outstanding net 62 off a 16 handicap to be seeded number 1. Young Vihan De Alwis’s net 66 assured him of being seeded number 2, in the automatic match play draw. Last year’s winner Sudath Kumara did not qualify this time around with the 16th qualifier Dayananda Ukwatte sneaking in with a net 73, thanks to a withdrawal by Arvind Fernando, the winner of the trophy two years ago. The match play draw appears to be enthralling with some sensational matches expected. The striking feature about the 2017 Pin Fernando Trophy is that there are four teenagers in the draw, with Nirekh Tejwani the youngest at 11 years old. Vinod Weerainghe, Vihan De Alwis and Armand Flamer Caldera complete the teen quartet. Seasoned golfer Sanjeewa Wickramanayake, RCGC Captain Ranil Pathirana, Affli Rahim, Caesar Fernando, Wasantha De Silva, Kapila Dandeniya, Tyronne Weerakkody, Diresh Palihane, Nishan Navaratne and Shamal Perera complete the top 16 to qualify for the Pin Fernando Trophy knockout match play stage commencing today at the RCGC. 

All matches will be played in the afternoon and the final will be worked off on Friday, 14 July, followed by the traditional prize-giving ceremony.

The ladies’ segment also created keen interest with Roshani Sangani gaining pole position, seeded number 1 with a nett 72, whilst the 8th qualifier Niranjali Amarasuriya got in on a count back and the withdrawal of Jane Hong. Roshani Sangani’s daughter Iman Sangani, the 2016 winner, did not qualify this year. Shirani Buffin, Niloo Jayathilaka, Eliane Sterchi, Anouk Chitty, Ruani Desinghe and Sharon Hall complete the eight qualifiers for the Pam Fernando Trophy 2017. The ladies’ match play starts Wednesday, with the final also on Friday, 14 July 2017.

The qualifying round was followed by an entertaining evening at the Urban Greens Golf Simulator Room, South Lawn, at the Taj Samudra Hotel. Despite a light shower the awards ceremony for the qualifying round was conducted swiftly, followed by soft, soothing music and the luxury of playing golf on the simulator in the Golf Room of Urban Greens.

UTE Chairman Prasan Fernando reminisced about his grandfather and grandmother, the legendary Pin Fernando, who won the RCGC Championship a record 19 times, and his equally distinguished wife Pam Fernando, the holder of the Guinness World Record for being the oldest to win a national championship Title. 

The UTE Chairman, as the sponsor of this great match play event, also introduced the launch of a new Caterpillar product of reliability and stability, ‘Solar Power from CAT’ – CAT SOLAR, during his brief but enlightening speech. 

Retired Chairman Priath Fernando also spoke and expressed his joy that Urban Greens, his new project to introduce virtual reality golf or a golf simulator, helps to teach and improve golfers’ swings and games. He said he was happy to be associated with the Pin and Pam Fernando Trophy qualifying round awards evening.

Awards and certificates for qualifying were distributed by UTE Chairman Prasan Fernando, Retired Chairman Priath Fernando, UTE CEO Riyadh Ismail, UTE CMO Nalin Manorathne, Machine Sales GM Janak Edirisinghe and Product Support GM Arvind Jayasekera.