Sri Lanka, Oct. 15 -- Professional golfer Vijitha Bandara fired a brilliant two-under-par 71 on the opening day, taking an early lead on the 73-par course of the Sri Lanka Golf October Ranking Tournament at the Victoria Golf Resort in Digana, Kandy yesterday.

Bandara, one of the three professionals in the field, showed fine control from tee to green, mixing birdies and pars with confident approach shots to top the leaderboard at the end of the first round. He finished two strokes ahead of newly crowned Sri Lanka Amateur Champion Chanaka Perera of Sitrek Group, who returned an even-par 73 to lead the amateur category.

Dhanushan Kumar, Sri Lanka's current World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) leader, followed closely behind with a one-over-pa...