Nandasena Perera

Perera grew up in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Perera left school early to work for his family. He later got into golf while working as a caddy at the Royal Colombo Golf Club. At the age of 15, Perera broke his left arm at the elbow. Te elbow was set incorrectly, prohibiting the full extension of his left hand. Despite this he went on to be a professional golfer.

Perera won the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship several times. He also won the national amateur championship of Pakistan, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Perea had some other highlights during this era. He shot a 63 (−8) at the Royal Colombo Golf Course Open in 1983, breaking the course record. He would go on to win the event. Very shortly afterwards he played in the Singapore Open. In the second round he made a hole-in-one winning a free Mercedes-Benz E320.

Perera turned professional around the year 1990. He competed at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, China. Perera was in the finals against Japan's Shigeki Maruyama. The two were tied after regulation and competed in a sudden-death playoff to determine who got the gold medal. Maruyama hit his drive into the rough and could not find his ball after three minutes of searching. If two more minutes elapsed then he would have to take a penalty stroke. However, Perera found the ball and notified his competitor. Maruyama went on to defeat Perera on that hole. Perera, however, won a Silver Medal and was remembered for his act of sportsmanship.

In 1991, Perera played excellently at several international tournaments. He won the 1991 Sabah Masters, an event played in Indonesia.{{cite web |url=https://www.where2golf.com/tournament.aspx?t=ty&v=48568 |title=Men Asia Golf Championships. Major Golf Tournaments |website=where2golf.com }} A couple months later, in October 1991, he finished runner-up at the Malaysian Masters to Australian Stewart Ginn.{{cite web |url=http://www.owgr.com/en/Events/EventResult.aspx?eventid=957 |title=1991 Malaysian Masters |date=October 6, 1991 |publisher=Official World Golf Ranking |access-date=2020-01-17}} His best play that year, however, may have been at that November's Air New Zealand Shell Open. Ten behind entering Sunday, Perera shot a final round 66 (−4) in "wet, windy conditions" to "surge through the pack" and finish solo second.{{Cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122390047|title=Morse hangs on to capture Open |date=1991-11-11 |newspaper=The Canberra Times |access-date=2020-01-17 |page=24}} The following year, Perera also recorded a number of top ten finishes on the international circuit.{{cite web |url=http://www.owgr.com/en/Ranking/PlayerProfile.aspx?playerID=5031&year=1992 |title=Official World Golf Ranking - Nandasena Perera - 1992 |publisher=Official World Golf Ranking }} The best finish was a joint runner-up placing at the Benson & Hedges Malaysian Open to Vijay Singh.{{cite web |url=http://www.owgr.com/en/Events/EventResult.aspx?eventid=1030 |title=Benson & Hedges Malaysian Open |date=March 15, 1992 |publisher=Official World Golf Ranking }}

Perera soon qualified for the Japan Golf Tour and Asian Tour. However, the colder conditions in Japan affected him and he developed severe arthritis. This led to end of his career as a touring professional.{{cite web |url=http://www.thepapare.com/asian-games-silver-medalist-nandasena-perera-passes-away/ |title=Asian Games Silver medalist Nandasena Perera passes away |last=Ranasinghe |first=Dinushki |date=2019-02-17| website=ThePapare.com |access-date=2020-01-17}}

The Indian golfer Rishi Narain noted that Perera was probably the best South Asian golfer of his era.

Perera was married to Ranjani. He had three children: a daughter, Nithini, who is a doctor in India; a son, Mithun, who is a professional golfer; and another daughter, Michiko, an archaeology student at University of Colombo. Mithum has won seven events on the Professional Golf Tour of India and has recorded three runner-up finishes on the Asian Tour.

Late in the life, Perera was granted a plot of land adjacent to Royal Colombo Golf Course. He built a house there with the help of several members of the club.

Perera died in early 2019. Late in the year, his son Mithun won an event on the Professional Golf Tour of India and dedicated the win to his father.{{cite news |url=https://sportstar.thehindu.com/golf/mithun-perera-wins-royal-calcutta-golf-club-open-kolkata-sanjeev-kumar-sri-lanka/article30312615.ece |title=Mithun Perera lifts inaugural ICC RCGC Open title in Kolkata |last=Sarangi |first=Y. B. |newspaper=The Hindu |access-date=2020-01-17}}

• 1983 Royal Colombo Golf Course Open
• 1988 Sri Lanka National Amateur Golf Championship, Amateur Golf Championship of India{{cite web |url=https://indiangolfunion.org/amateur-golf-championship-of-india/ |title=Amateur Golf Championship of India |website=Indian Golf Union |accessdate=30 June 2020}} Singapore Open Amateur Championship{{cite web |title=Past Champions – Singapore Open Amateur Championship |url=https://sga.org.sg/past-champions/past-champions-singapore-open-amateur-championship/ |publisher=Singapore Golf Association |access-date=18 February 2024}}
• 1989 Sri Lanka National Amateur Golf Championship, All India Amateur Golf Championship
• 1990 Sri Lanka National Amateur Golf Championship, All India Amateur Golf Championship, Singapore Open Amateur Championship
• Pakistan Amateur Golf Championship
• Thailand Amateur Golf Championship
• Malaysia Amateur Golf Championship

• 1991 Sabah Masters
• Sri Lankan National Open (7 times)

• Asian Games (representing Sri Lanka): 1990 (individual silver medal)
• World Cup of Golf (representing Sri Lanka): 1996

{{reflist}}

• {{OWGR|5031}}
• {{JapanTour player|2096}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perera, Nandasena}}

Category:Sri Lankan male golfers

Category:Asian Games medalists in golf

Category:Asian Games silver medalists for Sri Lanka

Category:Golfers at the 1990 Asian Games

Category:Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games

Category:Sportspeople from Colombo

Category:1954 births

Category:2019 deaths