Daily Times

LAHORE: The inaugural Rumanza Open Golf Championship will be played over five days of classy golf playing activity from March 1 to 5 at the most captivating Rumanza Golf Course in Multan, known as City of Saints. And Multan has now also acquired more popular touch as the city having the first signature golf course. A history creating championship for this Nick Faldo-designed golf course of the country, Rumanza will host women, veterans, senior amateurs, senior professionals, junior professionals, merited amateurs with handicap of nine and below and the 100 super golf professionals who are so very motivated about competing at this magnificent and technically demanding 18 holes golf course. Additionally, the huge attraction for eligible golf professionals is the cash laden purse of R 12 million and an alluring car for a hole-in-one.

Out of the aspiring golf professionals, some of the contenders are heralded and rated highly and predictions, assessments and statistics seems to favour them, as they get ready for a fling at the prize money and honors. Competition for them will be over four rounds from March 2 to 5, a total of 72 holes, 18 holes each day at the Rumanza Golf Course. Mohammad Shabbir Iqbal, the top ranked professional of our national golf circuit, is a champion whose consistency is almost automatic. He wins tournaments in unruffled fashion and having him as a participant in the Rumanza Open is distressing news even for prominent players like M Munir, Matloob Ahmed, Waheed Baloch, M Ashfaq and Talat Ijaz.

In this part of the country, however, young Ahmad Baig remains a popular choice of many golf lovers, as his record for the past few months is enough to intimidate many hopefuls including Shabbir Iqbal. Declared a brand ambassador for Rumanza Golf Course, he is a player of remarkable physique, command over golf playing technicalities and oozing with passion. Just a week back, at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course, he demonstrated tremendous flair and devastating powers of recovery to emerge as the winner of the JA Zaman Championship. Another brand ambassador of Rumanza is Hamza Amin who will miss this grand event because of his marriage.

For the past two days, Matloob Ahmed, ranked number two in Pakistan, as well as other acclaim seeking golf professional champions have been practicing at the Rumanza Golf Course, improving familiarity with the fairways and getting adjusted to the feel of the greens. Matloob said on Tuesday: “It is not preparation that is so important, it is the right preparation.” Whispers about Matloob suggest that he is not going to be easy to beat, although even after the lapse of a few days he is furious with himself for having lost to Ahmad Baig. Competition among amateurs will be fearsome indeed. Teenager Saad Habib of Rumanza will make competitive life tough for top ranked amateurs like Qasim Ali Khan, Salman Jehangir, Saim Shazli and Hussain Hamid. Certainly, Saad Habib enjoys the home course advantage and appears in winning form. As for flites composition top amateurs will form a part of the Pro flite. As for the playing arena, the Rumanza Golf Course is all ready to test the skills of the competing golfers with course length extended to 7553 yards. From the championship markers the course is likely to present an exacting examination that requires meticulous shot placing accuracy due to the demanding fairways. The infrastructure is top class.