LAHORE: Matloob Ahmed of Garrison Club won the 37th Punjab Open Golf Championship which concluded at the classic and stately Defence Raya Club Golf Course here on Sunday. The championship, accredited and sustained by Muslim Commercial Bank, Allied Bank Limited and Defense Housing Authority, witnessed some unfailing, marvellous and outstanding display of quality golf by masters Matloob, Shabbir Iqbal (Islamabad) and new discovery Mohammad Alam of Defence Raya Club. What further enlivened the proceedings was the fact that Matloob succeeded in eliminating the overnight one stroke deficit and then birdying holes 5 and 8 and levelling with the champion Shabbir at the end of first nine holes. A tormenting aspect of the fierce competition was that other challenger Hamza Amin, from whom much was expected, lost his way as the unexpected happened on the 9th hole. Hamza hit his shot into the water and then as per rules took another shot and as if to inflict unbearable pain, this shot too went into the water and so did another one. This disastrous episode resulted in loss of five strokes and for him the race to the championship title was over. From thereon it was a battle between Shabbir and Matloob. And as the proceedings moved on ,the victory tilt started to move in Matloob’s favour as Shabbir lost a stroke on the 11th hole while Matloob, by virtue of admirable hitting, secured two birdies on holes 12 and 13. From thereon every shot was cheered by the huge crowd but Matloob did not relent till the last moment and after getting a par on the closing 18th hole he surfaced as the Punjab Open champion for 2018. That he prevailed over the star player Shabbir by one stroke only was not of any relevance. For this experienced one of the Pakistan golf scene, securing the title by prevailing over Shabbir was of much significance. Score wise Matloob won with three rounds scores of 69, 69 and 68 and an aggregate of 206, ten under par. Shabbir was runner-up with rounds of 66, 71 and 70 and an aggregate of 207, nine under par. Alam came third with scores of 68, 71 and 70 and an aggregate of 211, five under par. Compliments to this young one of Defence Raya Club for putting up an exceptional effort. Other positions went to Muhammad Ashfaq (Airmen Golf Club) 215, Anser Mehmood (MGGC) 216, Shafiq Masih (Lahore Gymkhana) 216, Hamza Amin (Islamabad) 217, Muhammad Munir (Islamabad) 217, Talib Hussain (CDA) 217. The Punjab Open lived up to its reputation of being one the best organized events of the Pakistan golf calendar. Held at the Defence Raya from March 21 to 25, the organisational skills of two stalwarts, Brigadier Sikandar and Major Haroon made the occasion significant and inspired the classy ones to perform like champions. This championship also catered for the amateurs, who amongst themselves tried to keep up the environment of competition and did look functional on a most challenging golf course. Taimur Khan (Peshawar) with an aggregate score of 228 managed to win first gross. Robin Bagh of Lahore Gymkhana acquired second gross position. His score was 232. Ghazanfar Mehmood of Garden City came third with a score of 233. In the race for net honours, Danish Javed (NTDC,WAPDA) played brilliantly to come first in net section with a net score of 220. Khawaja Ahsan secured second net followed by Jamal Nasir, third net. Parkha Ijaz topped in women’s gross with Humna Amjad second and Ghazala Yasmin third. The net section winner was Suneya Osama (first net), Ana James Gill (Royal Palm) second net and Shahzadi Gulfam(Punjab Police), third net. Published in Daily Times, March 26th 2018.