LAHORE: The Palmers Friendship Golf Tournament was a golfing battle between a 24-member Team Blue, captained by Sharjeel Awan, and a 24-member Team Red, captained by Faisal Sayid, at the par 72 Royal Palm Golf Course here yesterday. The contest between the skilled golfers was held on the match play format and the fight over each hole brought forth cheers of joy for one pair and shouts of agony and dismay for the pair at the receiving end, in particular where missed putts by the barest of margins caused loss of vital points. And as the activity progressed from hole to hole, noticeable was the stress felt by the Team Red pairs as the determined Team Blue pairs compiled aggregate points that tilted the winning scales in their favour. Undoubtedly, the Team Blue pairs showed remarkable cohesion and energetic effort and thereby kept the smart ones of the Red Team in check. And through this whole cohesive act, the Team Blue managed a successful effort to compile 26 points as against 20 points compiled by Team Red. This yielded honours for the Team Blue who took home the glittering trophy amidst heartening applause and ample compliments. For the Blue Team, the pairings of BJ Nadeem and Khalid Khan, Shahid Abbas and Khalid Chaudhary, Shoaib Bokhari and Dr Tashbeeb, Shahid Gondal and Asadullah Khan, Taha Mehmood and Naseer Akhtar, Ahsen Anwer and Zahid Hussain, Tanveer Karamat and HM Yousaf attained ascendancy over their opponents to secure two points each for their team and facilitate them to gain a winning advantage in the race for honours. While the Team Blue pairs provided the much needed victory tilt, the efforts of the individuals too helped to transform this advantage to ultimate victory. In the singles contest, the individuals who added a point each through their effort were BJ Nadeem, Shahid Abbas, Dr Tashbeeb, Sharjeel Awan, Shahid Gondal, Asadullah Khan, Naseer Akhter, Jaudat Hussain, Dr Mohsin Anwer, Abid Farooq and HM Yousaf. Half a point each was contributed by Abdullah Sharif and Tanveer Karamat. The combination playing under the banner of the Team Red definitely ended up at the receiving end and conceded victory to the Team Blue but they had their good moments too as the pairings of Irfan Raja and Lt Gen (r) M Tariq, Abdul Islam Nazir and Ali Naeem, Tariq Malik and Hammad Baig and Hamid Sharif and Jahanzeb Khan had a decisive edge over their opposing pairs and showed their superior capabilities. Another positive aspect for them was that in the individual competition the two teams had compiled 12 points each. It was the advantage gained by the Team Blue in the pairs event that deprived the Team Red of victory. At the conclusion of the well fought Royal Palm Palmers Friendship Cup Golf Tournament, Abdullah Sharif, captain golf, gave away the prizes to the winners at the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club. Published in Daily Times, March 6th 2018.