Navin Pieris – Group Chief Officer – Dialog Enterprise handing over the sponsorship to Micheal Magala – President – Sri Lanka Golf
The Sri Lankan Golf Open Championship was held at the Par 71 Royal Colombo Golf Club for the first time since 2017. With the PGTI taking a break, the 15 participating Indians took 7 of the top 10 positions with 30 year old Samarth Dwivedi, who considers Kalhaar Blues & Greens in Ahmedabad his home course, scoring 72-61-69-69 (total 13-under 271) to emerge victorious.
Samarth Dwivedi (Centre) receiving his winners trophy in Sri Lanka
Samarth is also a certified physical trainer who has worked with top Indian golfers such as Olympian Udayan Mane, title winner Aman Raj of Patna and Arjun Prasad.
Jamal Hossain, of Bangladesh, a winner on the PGTI this season, shot 68-67-69-69, for a tied-2nd finish at 11-under 273 along with Om Prakash Chouhan, who recently won the US$300,000 European Challenge Tour event in Bangalore, shooting 69-65-71-68.
Other Indians in the top 10 were:
4th – Udayan Mane 67-72-69-69 7-under 277
5th – SaptakTalwar 70-69-69-71 5-under 279
6th – Rashid Khan 72-70-65-73 4-under 280.
7th- M. Dharma – 71-69-72-70 2 under 282
9th – Jajbir Singh – 71-72-71-71 1 over 285
The Sri Lanka Open, established in 1972, has produced two Asian Games Silver Medalists in 1990 and 2002. After a hiatus since 2017 and no other professional event taking place in the country due to internal disturbances, this edition of the Sri Lanka Open attracted participation from as far away as South Korea and Japan.
Credits:-
Photo – Sri Lanka Golf & Dialog