Daily Times

LAHORE: In the 2023 Inter Club Golf Teams Championship among Defence Raya Club, Royal Palm Club and Lahore Gymkhana Club, the proficient Lahore Gymkhana ended up elated and annihilated through consistency and exceptional application of skills here on Monday. The challenge posed by Royal Palm and Defence Raya was overwhelmed by Lahore Gymkhana. Spread over three days, this championship of merited golf players was contested the first day at Defence Raya Course on alternate shots format, the second day at Royal Palm Course on foursome format and the final and third day at Lahore Gymkhana Course on singles match play basis. After the first day, the points position was Lahore Gymkhana 23, Royal Palm 20 and Defence Raya 17 which after the second days activity changed to Lahore Gymkhana 48, Royal Palm 47 and Defence Raya 25.

At the start of the final day, it was Lahore Gymkhana in the lead with 48 points, Royal Palm at 47 points, just one stroke behind was Defence Raya at 25 points after the completion of first two rounds competition. The final 18 holes competition at Lahore Gymkhana Course was pivotal and at stake in the singles match play contest was a total of 60 points which meant that the ultimate triumphant one could have been either Lahore Gymkhana and Royal Palm. Because of the points difference Defence Raya was at a disadvantage.

The final round was singles match play and as the championship progressed noticeable was the intensity of Lahore Gymkhana players. Accurate hitting off the tees was their hall mark and familiarity with their home course a huge strong point in their ascendancy. And ascend they certainly did. Those who fetched Lahore Gymkhana two points each through their marvellous effort were Omer Farooq, Omer Zia, Sameer Iftikhar, Salman Jehangir, Ammar Hameed, Aasim Zafar Khan, Shahnawaz Durrani, Razaurrehman, Dawar Lashari, Osman Khan and Tanvir Najm Butt. A few other team members who contributed to the points compilation were Dr Arshed Mehmood, Farhan Bhatti, Mohsin Anwar, Ahsan Khawaja, Qasim Ali Khan and Zunair Aleem Khan. Their combined effort enabled Lahore Gymkhana to command their way to supremacy with a total compilation of 79 points followed by Royal Palm 61.5 points and Defence Raya 39.5 points.

Who performed admirably for Royal Palm were Abdul Islam, Abbas Choudhary, Hassan Atta, Rana Imran, Usman Cheema, Mohsen Zafar, Damil Atatullah, Hussain Hamid, Asim Tiwana and Shahid Abbas. The captains of the teams were Taha Mehmood (Lahore Gymkhana), Abdullah Sharif (Royal Palm) and Sardar Mehmood (Defence Raya). Although Defence Raya did not fare well, a few of their players were outstanding. They were Shameer Maajid, Taimoor Shabbir, Col Asif Mehdi, Umair Butt, Sardar Murad, Asfandyar Khan, Azfar Hassan and Dr Dildar Hussain. Other team members did not perform as per ability.