Sachin dethrones Ranil to add to his RCGC titles (2016-'17)

Young, promising amateur Golfer Sachin de Silva is on a roll, bagging the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club (NEGC) Championship for the first time, 21 strokes clear of a solid field, while avenging his 2016 defeat to Ranil Peiris.

Sachin now adds this prestigious title to his back-to-back Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) Championships in 2016 and 2017.

Sachin won the President’s Prize earlier in the year and in 2017, recorded a phenomenal sweep of the North East Monsoon meet at the RCGC, winning both the Gross and Net Board events at stake.

Ranil Peiris did himself proud though, as he ended Runner-up to Sachin, since Ranil initially won the NEGC Championship in his prime in 1983 and as an experienced golfer won the title again in 2015 and 2016.

In the Ladies NEGC Championship 2017, Anouk Chitty annexed the title defeating 2016 Champion Niloo Fernando, by a comfortable 12 strokes. Niloo Fernando won the 2016 title from Praveena Dunuwille.

The 2017 NEGC Championship worked off during the weekend, had 45 entries in the Men’s category, whilst 12 Ladies vied for the Ladies Championship.

The NEGC was sponsored by Dialog. In addition to the main Club Championship, there were Division prizes in the Net category.

Men’s 'A', 'B' & 'C' Divisions Net were won by Sudath Kumara, Sunil Udalagama and Suren Prematilleke respectively, whilst the Ladies Bronze Division was won by Fran de Mel.

The NEGC Championship dates back to 1933 and was dominated by Scots, Irish, English and Welsh nationals based in Ceylon during that period. M. H. Lushington was the inaugural Champion, followed by W. S. Burnett in 1934.