KARACHI: Defending champion Muhammad Shabbir Iqbal, with 5 under par, was leading when the first round of Bank AL Habib’s 7th Rashid D Habib Memorial National Professional Golf Tournament concluded at the Karachi Golf Club here on Thursday. 106 golfers are participating in the Rs.6 million prize money tournament. Matloob Ahmed of Lahore Garrison Club was following Shabbir with 69 3 under par. Azam Khan from Quetta was third alongside Ahmed Saeed and Amjad Yousuf of Karachi Golf Club with 2 under. The golfers from all over Pakistan played at partly cloudy weather with clear visibility. The course was in excellent condition where the players, despite wind, were able to attack the pin because of hold on the greens. This year the tournament will be played over 72 with cut over final two days as per Pakistan Golf Federation’s (PGF) rules. The senior national professionals and junior professionals will also be playing in their respective categories concurrently. As before, appearance money amounting to Rs.500,000 will be distributed among top five golfers of Pakistan. The golfers have three more days to call their lady luck and put a hole-in-one for taking Bank Al-Habib’s brand new 1300cc car. The final round will be played on Sunday. Published in Daily Times, January 12th 2017.