In-form Mithun Perera continues to lead

By Shamseer Jaleel

Mithun Perera maintained his fine form to remain at the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the Sri Lanka Open Championship 2026 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club yesterday. Perera, who carded a superb opening round of 66 on day one, followed it up with a steady 69 in the second round for a two-day aggregate of 135 to take a slender one-stroke lead into the weekend rounds.

Reshan Algama and N. Thangaraja are tied for second place on 136 after both golfers returned identical scores of 68 and 68 in the opening two rounds. The duo displayed remarkable consistency and remain strongly in contention for the title with two rounds left to play.

Experienced campaigners Vijitha Bandara and former champion Anura Rohana are jointly placed fourth with a total of 139. Both golfers improved with second round scores of 69 after opening with 70s on day one and are well within striking distance of the leaders. Haroon Aslam occupies sixth position on 140 after rounds of 69 and 71, while Chalitha Pushpika produced one of the best second round performances with a brilliant 69 to end 7th place. The cut was applied at the end of round two with 22 golfers out of 74 qualifying for rounds three and four of the championship.

The qualified golfers are Mithun Perera, Reshan Algama, N. Thangaraja, Vijitha Bandara, Anura Rohana, Haroon Aslam, Chalitha Pushpika, Sachin de Silva, N. Amarapadma, BG Lalith Kumara, Kaya Daluwatte, Vinoth Kumar, Adhithya Weerasinghe, Jacob Norton, Priya Hemantha, Lavidu Premarathna, JMD Indika, BA Sanjeewa, Sasi Nathan, Binupa Wijesinghe, Harsha Rukman Warnakulasooriyage and T Deshan.