Daily Times

The two days inaugural match of the Ace Junior Golf League (AJL) concluded on Sunday at the Lahore Garrison Greens with an astounding success.

It is the brainchild of its President, Mrs. Munazza Shaheen, and is aimed at creating a unique golfing platform that can eventually become a much needed nursery at the grassroots level for discovering, nurturing and producing our future golf champions. She spent over two years to study the methods and systems of other golfing countries before conceiving a suitable blueprint for its application to the Pakistani golfing landscape.

Munazza’s AJL is designed to encompass a unique combination of three aspects of Golf, i.e. Training for Skill Development, Application of Golf Psychology and Golf Tournaments into one comprehensive system. The AJL is designed to be a golf league for both girls and boys, between the ages of 6-18 years that is structured to inspire them to take a serious interest in golf at an early age and then facilitate them in developing their golfing skills to their full potential.

The Inaugural AJL Match was aggressively contested by 92 young golfers 40% of whom were girls, whose enthusiasm and love for the game were clearly visible. The event concluded with a very impressive Prize Distribution Ceremony at which the prizes were awarded by the Chief Guest, Mr Hafeez. Incidentally, while in his earlier life Mr Hafeez had the honour of captaining the Pakistan Cricket Team, today he is an avid golfer.

He graciously agreed to be an honorary Brand Ambassador for AJL. He appreciated the initiative and efforts put in by the organizers. “I have never seen such a professionally organized event, conducted by a management comprising ladies. Today, I have seen the real talent of Pakistan, which if provided with the best opportunities and financial support by government and corporate sector, they will be the future stars of Pakistan. I will always be there to support this noble cause.”

In the girls birdie category, Noor Bano Chaudhry, Syeda Noor Zahra Shah and Zainab Akram topped the chart, in eagle category, Nataliaya Shehzadi Chaudhry, Aleesa Almas Rashid, Areej Atif earned the top three positions respectively, in albatross category, Laiba Ali Shah, Yasmeen Zaman Khan and Aleeha Amjad excelled.

In the boys birdies category, Faiz Khan, Fazeel Ahmed and Abu Bakar topped the chard, in boys eagle category, Rehan Asif, Sher Ali Khan and Muhammad Ibrahim won the first, second and third positions respectively. In albatross category, Hamza Bilal Sarfraz, M Razaullah Waheed and Mustafa Bilal excelled.

In elite category, Moiz Amer, Saim Tahir were winner and runner-up respectively. It is pertinent that the league will be played on gross score only and junior golfers will compete in their respective age categories, the two most vital principles of the AJL.