LAHORE: The Friends of Golf Tournament was contested between a 20-member Team Blue, captained by Zafar Iqbal, and a 20-member Team White, captained by Hammad Baig, at the par 72 Royal Palm Golf Course here Monday. This 18 holes competition played on match play format had an excitement of its own as upcoming golfers were afforded an opportunity to match wits and playing skills with established golf players. And even though losing to them was not too disheartening, the occasion taught them much about how to keep their composure in cut throat competitions and emerge impressively by giving a good account of their playing abilities and thereby earn comforting pats and cheers. Team Blue overwhelmed Team White through excellent hitting and good work on the greens. Team Blue accumulated 22 points as against 18 by Team White. For Team Blue, the pairings of Shoaib Shams and Zafar Iqbal, Asim Basra and Hanan Gulzar, Saeed ul Haseeb and Ch Khalid, Abbas Chaudhary and Hassan Hamid, Abdul Islam and Ahmed Baksh ended up with success over their highly charged adversaries. In the Individual competition the ones who brought fruits in the shape victory points were Shoaib Shams, Zafar Iqbal, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammad Imran, Ch Khalid, Imran F Mian, Abbas Chaudhary, Hassan Hamid, Ahmed Baksh and Irfan Raja. Half point contributors were Asim Basra and Abdul Islam. Although Team White were at the receiving end, there were some good moments for them as the pairings of Nauman Razzaq and Ahmed Asad, Ale Imran and Imran Amjad, Nadeem Malik and Zahid Hussain, Omer Dar and Abid Farooq had a decisive edge over their opposing pairs and showed their superior capabilities. In the overall reckoning however,the Blues Team performed better. Prize for nearest to the pin went to Hassan Hamid and the longest drive was hit by the athletic Abdul Islam Nazir. At the conclusion of the event, Abdullah Sharif gave away the prizes to the winners at the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club. Published in Daily Times, December 12th 2017.