Kaya and Dhanushan crowned 2022 Junior Golf Champs

SRI LANKA JUNIOR GOLF OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2022

Kaya Daluwatte led from start to finish to win the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship 2022, 28 strokes clear of the Gold & Silver combined division Age Group category for Girls from Sherin Mithara Balasooriya who snatched second place from Dhevinka Kanag-Iswaran with a final round 77, having trailed Dhevinka by 4 strokes going in to the final round. Kaya’s performance is outstanding completing the Junior Championship with another 1 under par 71 for a 3 round gross total of seven under par form 54 holes. An extremely impressive performance for the budding star fourteen-year lass, showing all the positive signs of going the distance as a lady Golfer to light-up the Ladies Professional Golf Tour and fly the Lankan flag high.

K. Dhanushan also led from the 1st round and maintained his lead throughout to secure the title as Junior Golf Champion Boys 2022, withstanding the mighty challenge of the defending champion Yannik Kumara and the RCGC Club Champion Nirekh Tejwani. The top 3 in the leader board of the 2022 Junior Boys Championship, Nirekh fired 7 Birdies and ended with an outstanding 3 under par gross 68. Yannik shot a 72, whilst Dhanushan held his nerve and displayed a cool attitude to end on Even Par 71 and win the Junior Boys Champ title for 2022 by a comfortable five strokes. Nirekh with his 3 under 68, managed to grab second place from Yannik Kumara 2 strokes ahead in 2nd place.

Reshan Algama continued his skillful Golf and crafted a brilliant six under par in the final round for a 54 hole aggregate of 206, a total of seven under par gross to be crowned the unchallenged silver division champ, 24 strokes clear of the runner-up Thejas Rathis Kanth on 230 edging out Adithya Weerasinghe from Anuradhapura who secured a creditable 3rd place from Jacob Norton 8 strokes further behind in 4th place.

In the Bronze division Kaitlyn Norton held on to her lead after 2 rounds to win the 10-11+ age group category by 3 strokes from Saqeeb Zuhar followed by Anuja Methsara of Anuradhapura Academy further 2 strokes behind in 3rd place.

Revaan Amarasinghe playing consistent golf also led the Copper division from the start to finish and crowned the copper division champion with a 3 round (9 hole) total of 120, 11 strokes clear of 2nd placed Yuvan Rathis Kanth on 131 and 3rd placed Danik Daluwatte on 142.

Overall, the standard of golf was above average, whilst the top 3 boys and the girls winnesr in the Gold division and Reshan Algama the Silver Champ, were head and shoulders above the rest. However, there was a lot of talent unearthed with the juniors from Anuradhapura Academy making steady progress in a relatively short period of play. The advent of students from Ananda College in to competitive golf and some talented kids in the Copper division age group category of 9 & under performing creditably in their very first tournament augurs well for the future.

The three rounds of enthralling golf were capped off by an encouraging prize giving enriched by PRIMA SUNRISE BREAD the principal sponsor of the Sri Lanka Junior Open Golf Championship 2022. The sponsors were represented by Sajith Guneratne as the guest of honour. The Chief Guest was Suresh Subramaniam President of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka.

President Sri Lanka Golf Michael Magala expressed his appreciation to Prima Sunrise bread for the continuous support of the premier junior Golf Open Championship. Chief Guest Suresh Subramaniam thanked all parents for supporting their children to play golf. Speaking on he said that the Youth Olympic Games in 2026 should be the target to train the youth of today and win medals for Sri Lanka. Niloo Jayathilaka Chairperson of Sri Lanka Junior Golf said that the standard of golf displayed was excellent and the talent of the new juniors is a welcome breath of fresh air and she commended the many sponsors who came forward to promote golf especially in Anuradhapura and among other school students too.