A busy calendar ahead for Sri Lanka Golf
The 132nd Sri Lanka Amateur Open Golf, Ladies Amateur Golf Open and this September’s Asian Games will keep the country’s golfers busy with 132nd Amateur Open, the first event slated to start later this month. Sri Lanka Golf Union, now renamed to, ‘Sri Lanka Golf’ (SLG), based on trends and requirements of the Ministry of Sports, announcing at a news briefing on Friday, said the Amateur Open will be staged from 22 to 28 of this month with the organisers anticipating around 120 players including foreigners from 14 countries. India and Australia will come in with two private entries, hence won’t be sending in a team.
The championship, returning after a lapse of four-years, will have two each from men’s and women’s teeing off for golfing awards. At the Asian Games, four male and two female golfers will be selected for individual and team events.
They will also be kicking off junior development of the game at grass-root level. Along with this for the juniors, trials are also underway to send one junior boy and a girl, under the age of 16, for the 150th British Open.
In addition, SLG has already ventured into another programme in their project of growing golf. As part of it, they have already convinced – Ananda and D.S. Senanayake colleges – to introduce golf into their sporting curriculum.
The School’s Programme, yet to be titled officially, will see the project being pitched to 300 potential school golfers, of which, 80 would be filtered out. These 80 would be trained at the Navy Welisara Golf Driving Range. This initially was initiated in Anuradhapura; with the purpose to propel schoolgoers pursue golf as a career. Not only as a sport for school, but as a sport for life, they said.