Remembering Nandasena Perera, Sri Lankan golf icon

By Rahul Banerji

I remember watching some years ago a Golf Channel documentary on Nandasena Perera. He would have been in his early sixties and well past the glory days, but his infectious enthusiasm and passion for golf shone through every frame. Accompanying Perera in the shoot was his son Mithun, himself an accomplished player and one putting Sri Lanka on the golfing map in his own way, and for some reason that short, third-hand encounter stayed in the mind.

Three days ago, Nandasena Perera passed on, leaving behind a trail of memories that stretch well past his beloved Royal Colombo Golf Club and a bereaved Sri Lanka to the larger pan-Asian golfing community.

For a nation that has little history in the sport other than the Fernando and Perera families in past years – though the picture is quickly changing – Nandasena leaves behind an extraordinary impact.

‘Fearless golfer’

“He was a dildaar golfer,” recalls two-time Indian Open champion Ali Sher. “Nandasena had a fantastic game and was a tough, fearless golfer, but more than that, was a good man. It’s a pity he had to leave golf early because of medical reasons, a problem in his hands, but I remember him well and very fondly. Sad to hear he is no longer with us.”

Nandasena made a mark not only in Sri Lanka and India, where he won the All-India Amateur Championship in 1989 before turning professional but across the continent. At a time when the game had no real professional roots at home, Nandasena made a mark in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and even Japan, where he was good enough to earn his place in the pro tour.

Brandon De Souza, former player turned trail-blazing golf entrepreneur says, “Nandasena was a wonderful guy, and a great ambassador for Sri Lankan golf, possibly the finest golfer Sri Lanka has produced. His game was so good he would have been one of the greats had his arthritis not cut short his career. Nandasena’s short game was simply outstanding.

“Though we did not play a lot together, he would always make time for us guys from India, Pakistan, all of us from Asia. I met him at their place, near the 13^th hole of the Royal Colombo only last year. Sad to hear he is no more. A great guy.”

‘Great mental strength‘

Wrote Dian Abeywardene, in Sunday’s edition of The Sunday Times of Colombo, “The uniqueness of Nandasena’s capacity is the fact that he climbed a fruit tree at 15 years, fell to the ground and broke his left arm at the elbow and the elbow was set incorrectly, prohibiting the full extension of his left hand.

“Nonetheless, with Nandasena’s outstanding mental strength, even the incorrectly set left arm was turned to a positive and the magical touch round the greens, the capability to sink putts at will, the sheer brilliance out of any bunker simply mesmerized all and sundry! Nande’s long game was second to none, utterly accurate off the tee and length belied his slight build and small stature.”

Says son Mithun, speaking from Colombo, “He was behind me all the way once I had decided to take up the game seriously, around 2002-2003. He not only taught me how to play golf after I had taken the decision to play it full time, but how to be a gentleman, because he always said that the sport demanded a certain standard from those who played it.”

Complete sportsman

As though supplementing the thought, Abeywardene wrote in his tribute, “After four rounds (at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games), Nandasena Perera was tied with (Shigeki) Maruyama of Japan and in the sudden-death play-off, Maruyama pushed his drive to the rough whilst Nandasena was in the middle of the fairway. In accordance with the rules of golf the search time for a lost ball is five minutes and after three minutes the ball was not to be found.

“… As a great sportsman Nandasena found his opponent’s ball and Maruyama holed out from off the green to birdie the sudden death hole and win the gold medal for Japan. Maruyama, played the Japanese Tour and went on to the world stage, ranked in the top five in the world, whilst Nandasena sat in a hospital bed getting treatment for his knees and a chronic arthritis condition aggravated by the cold weather.” 

Indian 1982 Asian Games gold medallist Rishi Narain adds, “Nandasena achieved huge success in Japan and around Asia and was probably the best South Asian player (including India) during his prime years.

“His swing wasn’t powerful but his short game was deadly accurate. He was soft-spoken and understated and probably deserved a lot more fame and fortune than what he achieved.”

For Mithun, as for many others, it was a full life, though the best golfing years ended too early. “He had a successful career as an amateur and won the national open thrice, the all-India Amateur and also had great success around Asia. He had earned his Japan Tour card but his condition did not allow him to continue to play at that level, though he remained involved with the game all his life.”

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