LAHORE: Out of a total of 160 competing amateur golf players, an athletic looking Dr Dildar Chaudhry emerged as the leader at the end of the first 18 holes of the 36 holes Quaid-e-Azam Amateur Golf Championship, endorsed and backed by Brighto Paints, Jubilee Insurance and Pak Arab Developers, here Saturday. This championship entered the final phase at the Lahore Gymkhana Club Golf Course yesterday. Dr Dildar of Defence Raya played a round of net 68, four under par. And during the course of the first 18 holes, he displayed praiseworthy control over his golf swing and also over his temperament. At no stage was he awed by the presence of many established ones and played each hole on merit. Equally applaudable was the performance of Dr Zafar Nasrullah of Lahore Gymkhana who definitely performed to perfection and at the end of the round: he was placed at a score of net 68, bracketed with Dr Dildar. While these two leaders moving into the final phase, there were quite a few who also displayed steady play and were in a position to challenge the leaders on Sunday (today). Col Rustam Ali Piracha of Garrison Club was one and Shazil Ibrahim of USA another. Col Rustam brought in a score of net 69 and Shazil scored net 70. Some other good performers who appeared as hopefuls were Azmat Lodhi 71, Ahmed Jibran 71 and Ameer Khawaja 72. A few of the participants could not complete their round and they will do so on Sunday before the other competitors tee off for the final go. In the race for gross honours, Ghazanfar Mehmood was ahead of others with a score of gross 72. Bracketed with him at a score of gross 72 was the accomplished Wazir Ali. Mohammed Rehman of Royal Palm was one stroke behind at a score of gross 73. The battle is on and the competition is expected to be sharp edged indeed on the last day (today). The amateurs will tee off at 8: am on Sunday. At the conclusion of the championship, the prize distribution will be held at 4:30 pm at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course. Published in Daily Times, February 11th 2018.