The feature professional golf tournament organized by Sri Lanka Golf is the Sri Lanka Open first played in 1972, providing an opportunity to non-member Golfers with talent to vie for the Open Golf Champion title, which was won by H. L. Premadasa a Caddy beating top Amateur Golfers too in 1972 which was recognized by the RCGC Committee by appointing H.L. Premadasa as Assistant Golf Professional who however, died in a motor accident prematurely few years later.
Following H.L. Premadasa were a host of Caddies from RCGC and the NEGC namely K.M. Wemboo, A.A.Sumathipala, P.Sigamany. However, the outstanding performer has been K. Nandasena Perera seven times winner of the S L Open and R. A. Anura Rohana also tied with Nandasena on seven wins. Thangaraja is a past winner Ranked 21st in the PGTI, whilst K. Prabagaran from Nuwara-Eliya won the last playing of the Open in 2017, for the 3rd time.
Mithun Perera the illustrious son of Nandasena is yet to win the Sri Lanka Open though he is ranked in 35th in the PGTI 2022 Tour. Mithun, Thangaraja, Anura Rohana (Ranked 55th in the PGTI), Prabagaran and Vijitha Bandara are regular players in the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and the Sri Lanka Open is expected to offer substantial prize money purse attracting top professional golfers from the PGTI as well as from about 10 countries in the South- East Asian Region and the Middle East.
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Qatar, Oman, Dubai and the UAE are expected to participate. The Sri Lanka Open 2023 is tipped to offer a substantial Prize Purse in keeping with Pro- Tournaments in the region, with a view to raising the bar in Sri Lanka combining Golf spectator tourism as an unique holiday location too to be held at the highest level annually or Bi-annually.
A top-level PRO-AM Event is scheduled on May 28th followed by a Practice / Q Round on the 29th of May and the 4 round Stroke play Open championship to follow from May 30th – June 2nd 2023 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club Course. Many attractive side events are planned to include a Golf Gymkhana – mini- Golf games and Fun events like Pitching into a Bucket, Obstacle Chipping, Crazy Putting, Ladder Putting, Plastic Ball longest drive, etcetera promoting the fun aspect of golf to children towards the development of golf in Sri Lanka.
The Title Sponsorship, Principal & Co-Sponsorship is up for grabs with much interest shown locally and Multi-National Brands already in the Golf Tour industry as well, organized and conducted by Sri Lanka Golf.
