Daily Times

LAHORE: The inaugural Chairman WAPDA Amateur Golf Championship commenced at the Defence Raya Golf Course after the Chairman WAPDA, Lt Gen (r) Muzzamil Hussain hit the baptism shot with a one wood on the first tee here Friday. All this produced considerable liveliness plus heart warming moments for a large number of golfers present and thereafter the hustle and bustle of the championship became functional and visible was energetic and forceful shot making and skill of the champions. Speaking to media after the opening shot, Muzzamil said that sports in Pakistan had been the most deteriorated segment during last five decades and there existed a need for structural change to elevate standard of sports in the country. “There is no doubt that the youth are loaded with talent and all that is required is facilitating infrastructure.”

After the completion of the first round in this three rounds championship, Ahmad Baig of Garrison Golf Club and a star of the national golf scene played an amazing first round of gross 70 to set the pace in this event. In the face of intense challenge offered by 79 other aspirants, this highly skilled young golfer was right on target from the word go and his opening regulation par on the first hole followed by a birdie on the second was an indicator of his unrelenting spirit and an urge to appear as an unbeatable amateur. As if that was not enough reflection of his intentions, Ahmad further went on to birdie the 5th and the 8th holes which can be attributed to tee shots of excellence and superb fairway hitting. His putting too was champion like and impressive. Overall in this first round he had four birdies on holes 2,5,8,13 and twelve pars and two bogies. The effort fetched him a round of gross 70, two under par, which represented the best score of the day.

From the competitive angle, his nearest challengers were two more good players, Ghazanfar Mehmood of Garden City Golf Club and Sulman Akhter of Lahore Gymkhana. They were bracketed at a score of gross 72. Another adept one in line was Ashiq Mehmood of Multan. His score for the first round was gross 73 and he also was on the look out for glory and honors in this championship. Some more contenders striving for top positions were Salman Jehangir (Gymkhana) 74, Hussain Hamid (Royal Palm) 74, Azfar Hassan (Defence Raya) 76, Khalid Mehmood (Rawalpindi) 76 and three others at gross 77 were Robin Bagh (Gymkhana), Zunair Aleem (Defence Raya) and Sardar Murad (Gymkhana).

Published in Daily Times, December 1^st 2018.