Daily Times

LAHORE: The profusely admired 9th JA Zaman Memorial Open Golf Championship, carrying a beneficial prize money of Rs six million, peaked towards culmination at the par 72, 18 holes Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course here on Saturday. Noticeable had been a zestful competitive application of golfing skills by many forceful professional champions whose expertise stood recognized and admired around the golf arenas of the country. Tenacious and robust golfing activity had caused ample sparks of excellence bringing to the fore performances that were praised by the Zaman Family, the championship benefactors and pundits of the game who love a commendatory game of golfing prowess.

The leader of the 9th JA Zaman Golf Championship after three rounds and 54 holes was Matloob Ahmed of Lahore Garrison who was ahead of his rather furiously competitive combatants with three rounds scores of 70, 69 and 70 and a total match aggregate score of 209, seven under par. This highly capable one of the national golf scene, who has numerous golf titles to his credit, possesses winning attributes that are spectacular. All through the three rounds of 18 holes play each day, Matloob was exceptional in shot execution, brilliant on the greens and the sublime combination empowered him to achieve illustrious scores that were resplendent.

His nearest rival in the final round on Sunday is the dexterous Ahmed Baig of Royal Palm. For Ahmed the round on Saturday was a fulfilling one. Eight birdies on holes 7, 8 and then on 10 and 11 and four consecutive birdies on holes 15, 16, 17 and 18 reflected incomparable merit. Earlier in the round he had been a little messy as he encountered a double bogie on the 5th hole and bogies on holes 4 and 6. The whole effort oozed of calibre and secured for him the second position on the leaderboard and competition wise he was placed at a score of 210, six under par and merely one stroke behind the leader Matloob. From the statistical angle his score for three rounds was 69,73 and 68.

The flow of the game would certainly not be placid in the final 18 holes on Sunday as the mighty one of the national golf scene, Shabbir Iqbal, had worked his way into the vanguard and would join Matloob and Ahmed in the final three ball flite. At the conclusion of the second round yesterday, Shabbir was placed at the modest looking 12th position. He produced the best round of the third day ,an outstanding 67 and thereby aggregated his score to an assertive 212, four under par and three strokes behind Matloob. Interestingly, also placed at 212 were two golfers associated with Lahore Gymkhana. Akber Mehroze and Sunny Masih another. Both would be vying for top honours today. A few others placed well were Shahid Javed Khan and M Munir. Both were bunched at 214, two under par. At 215 were Muhammad Alam and Taimoor Khan and at a score of 216 was Talat Ijaz.