Thangaraja flips right, Mithun drops

By Shamseer Jaleel

The third round of the Sri Lanka Open Championship 2026 concluded at the Royal Colombo Golf Club yesterday with the race for the title narrowing down to three leading contenders from the 22 golfers who made the cut for the latter stages of the tournament.
Veteran golfer N. Thangaraja surged to the top of the leaderboard with a superb third-round score of 66, taking his three-day aggregate to 202. Having carded identical rounds of 68 on the opening two days, Thangaraja displayed remarkable consistency and composure to move into pole position ahead of the decisive final round.
Former champion Mithun Perera, who set the pace after the opening round with an impressive 66, slipped to second place after returning scores of 69 and 70 on the following two days. Despite the drop, Perera remains firmly in contention with a total of 205 and will be aiming for a strong finish today.
Reshan Algama also kept himself in the hunt after recording rounds of 68, 68 and 70 for a total of 206, just four strokes behind the leader.
The final round will take place today.