LAHORE: Ahmad Baig, a national amateur 19 years old golfer, cast an imprint of excellence when he became the first Pakistan golfer to emerge as the best one in the under-21 years age category in the Nick Faldo Series Asia Tournament at the Laguna Lang Co Golf Course in Vietnam on Saturday. He achieved this feat through a remarkable performance over a three rounds contest. And during the course of this fighting encounter, he was up against the challenge of the Laguna Lang Championship Course, which has excellent fairways and true greens, and of course the sharp competition triggered by outstanding golfers from Australia, Japan, Taipei, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Nepal. This talent-loaded young and upcoming Pakistani shot a match winning three under-par 68 in the final round to finish ahead of his nearest challengers Nathen Tan (Singapore), Hayato Yoshida (Japan), Kevin Caesario (Indonesia), Sukra Rai (Nepal) and Jordan Garner (Australia). His aggregate score for the three rounds was 207, six under par compiled through rounds of 67 (first day), 72 (second day) and 68 (final day). Talking over the phone Ahmad said: “I remained calm on every shot and not once did I think of how fiercely the other competitors were playing. Certainly my training at the Defence Raya Golf Course in Lahore paid off and helped me to curb nervousness and I hope everyone in Pakistan will be happy, in particular my mentor Brig (r) RM Bajwa, the management at Garrison Golf Course, the Punjab Golf Association and the Pakistan Golf Federation.” By virtue of this victory, Ahmad gets an opportunity to participate in the Faldo Series European Tour final and this is bound to provide a boost for golf in Pakistan. In the race for honours in age category under-18, M Saqib of Pakistan ended up at the sixth position with rounds of 78, 71 and 77, while in the age category under-16 the young one Damil Ataullah finished 19th .As for the girls, Aania Farooq came 11th and Humna Amjad came 20th. While Aania Farooq has been impressive, Humna did not impress. Published in Daily Times, March 4th 2018.