That it was the first time a Thai golfer had won the tournament in the 11 years since its inception made it doubly delightful for the senior pro, who coaches young children at the Green Valley Country Club on the Bangna-Trad road. "It was totally unexpected. The feeling is still sinking in. I just went out and played my natural game.

"There is a dictum in golf, 'play the course as it allows us to play' and I just stuck to it. You cannot out-think the golf course. It was very challenging to all levels of golfers. I never thought of winning, rather I wanted to finish the round with fewer mistakes," said Mongkol, who shot a gross score of 62 in the stableford system where a par is worth 2 points, birdie 3, eagle 4 and albatross 5. A bogey is worth 1 point and double bogey a zero.

The narrow fairways, doglegs, the undulating large greens, the wind and the seasonal drizzle has made golfing challenging for the 188 golfers from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, France, Malaysia, Thailand and India.

 The 50-year-old was quite conscious of the daunting task and used his driver only five times in each of his round. "One must plan one's shot and one has to be precise. The layout was fantastic and I used more or less all the clubs in my bag. Birdies don't come easy," said Mongkol, who besides winning the trophy got two free tickets to any destination on Sri Lankan Airlines.

"Not even in my wildest dream did I think I would get it. I am blessed by Lord Buddha," said Mongkol, who plans to go to South Africa. Sri Lankan Suwen Selvaratnam walked away with the overall trophy in the women's competition.

"The initial idea of organising this tournament was to show our golf courses to visiting tourists. But now the focus is to attract the more discerning visitors to our beautiful island," said Peter Hill, chief executive officer of Sri Lankan Airlines.

"Sri Lanka is a paradise in the Indian Ocean. We take Malaysia as an example. See how they have used sport to promote the country," Hill said.

"One day, everybody will want to come to Sri Lanka."

The scores (final day): Men (Gross): Mongkol Varee (Thai) 62, 2. S. Munro (Sco) 61, 3. R. Abhayeratne (SL) 58, Ian Tait (UK) 58, 5. Sam Gunaratne (SL) 58.

(Nett): 1. Sam Gunaratne (SL) 75 pts, 2. Rohan Aturaliya (SL) 74, 3. R. Hameed (SL) 73, Hasith Jayawardena (SL) 73, 4. E. Northcott (UK) 71, 5. R. Northcott (UK) 70;