Daily Times

LAHORE: Shabbir Iqbal, the top ranked professional golfer of the country, took control of the three rounds Punjab Open Golf Championship being played at the Defence Raya Club Golf Course here Saturday. Shabbir revelled in the second round of this big championship by returning an under par round to emerge as the leader at the end of two rounds with scores of 69 on the first day and 70 on the second day and an aggregate of 139, five under. Quite a few of the leading contenders of the first round like Matloob Ahmed, M Afzal,and Jafal Hussain got irritated by their imperfections and failed to come up with even a semblance of brilliance. An upcoming young one of Islamabad Golf Club, Hamza Amin, turned out to be the pick of the second round and emerged as the one who could challenge Shabbir in the final round on Sunday (today).

Hamza who was placed lower down after the first round gained more authority as a strong contender with a brilliant round of three under par yesterday. This was compiled with the help of eight birdies on holes 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 12, 16 and 18, six pars and a couple of stroke losses on holes 3, 9, 14 (two) and 17. Hamza had a two rounds aggregate of 141, three under par and he trailed the leader by two shots and appeared determined to curb the advance of Shabbir to the title. “I am pleased with my performance today and have a game plan for the final round on Sunday,” Hamza said. “The Defence Raya Club Golf Course facilitates long hitters like me and I hope to use the experience to good effect,” added Hamza.

A cut was placed at the end of the second round. And as a result, 40 out of 100 professional participants became eligible to play on Sunday. Out of these 40, Talib Hussain (Islamabad) is placed third at a two days aggregate score of 144 and has the chance to be classified as a challenger to Shabbir and Hamza. Other champions in line are Sajjad Khan (Islamabad) at a score of 145, Matloob Ahmed (Garrison) at 146, M Munir (Islamabad) at 146 and two others, M Imran (Defence Raya) and M Naqas (Islamabad) are also at 146.

In the women’s section, Ghazala Yasmin (Garrison) managed to make her presence felt by outplaying her challengers. She won the women’s title and emerged the Punjab champion for this year. Her score for two rounds was 84 and 80 which added up to an aggregate of 164. Rimsha Ijaz (MGGC) was the runner-up with a score of 166 and Maryama Khan (Gymkhana) was third. Her score was 167. In the net category, Suneyah Osama (Garrison) won the first net with a score of 136. The second net was Zaibunnisa (Royal Palm), her net score being 146. Zahida Durrani (Garrison) claimed the third net with a score of 147. The Punjab Open Golf Championship will conclude today.