Daily Times

LAHORE: Twenty years old Muhammad Shoaib, with an 18 holes score of gross 71 one under par, managed to top of the leaderboard, along with Nouman Ilyas, who also carded a score of 71 one under par, on the opening day of the Smart City 62nd National Amateur Golf Championship at Lahore Gymkhana Club here on Wednesday. All through the first 18 holes of golfing Shoaib and Nouman were in spectacular control of their shot making, be it powerful 300 yards plus drives off the tees on all par fours and par fives backed by sublime control over approach shots from 70 to 100 yards and then the most grueling of all, the putting aspect on the greens. Shoaib and Nouman reflected exemplary ascendancy over all round golf playing techniques and managed the score of 71 with the help of regulation pars and birdies which were partially neutralized by bogies also.

Two more contestants who illuminated as good performers in the course of the first round were Salman Jehangir. These two consistent players were bunched together at a masterly score of gross 72. And in golf such a performance is the result of a commendable all-round effort. Usama Nadeem also impressed with his touch of excellence as did Omar Khalid and Umer Farooq. Usama scored gross 73 while Omar and Umer were together at gross 74. Had a few four feet putts dropped in the score could have been exceptionally good. Placed at a gross score of 75 were three players loaded with talent: Rao M Hassan, Umair Saleem and Saad Habib. Much is expected from these adroit champions. Viciousness of the competition can be gauged from the fact that nine competitors were bracketed together at a score of gross 76. They were Hussain Hamid, Qasim Ali Khan, Muslim Abbas, Noman Asghar, Ahmed Zafar Hayat, Umer Farooq, Shameer Majid, Sher Ali Khan and also there was a champion from Sri Lanka Chalitha Pushpika. Another Sri Lankan Chanaka Perera was at 77, as was Ahmed Jibran at 77.

Pakistan win JR Jayewardene Trophy: In the championship, team events at stake are International Team Match, JR Jayewardene Trophy Match and Inter Association Team Match between Senior teams and men amateur teams and individual championship for both men and women. And at the end of the first round of 18 holes, the JR Jaywardene Team Match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan concluded. Pakistan, comprising Salman Jahangir and Qasim Ali Khan, won the trophy as they combined well to aggregate a team score of gross 148 (72 by Salman and 76 by Qasim) as against the team score of 155 aggregated by Sri Lankans RAU Akash Priyamantha and MH Chalitha Pushpika with scores of 79 and 76, respectively. Thus Pakistan won the trophy by a margin of seven strokes.