At the end of the second round in the three rounds professionals event of the 6th JA Zaman Memorial Open Golf Championship, in progress at the Lahore Gymkhana Club Golf Course, the well established and unshakable golf professional, Shabbir Iqbal, exhibited marvelous control and application of skills and emerged as the top contender for the final phase of the championship here on Saturday. On Friday, in the course of the first round, he was brilliant and radiant. And once again in the second round yesterday his score for the day carried a sparkling touch. Even though he encountered a double bogie mess up on the 4th hole but made up the loss through intense focus and superb play that yielded five birdies in the following holes and a second day’s worthy looking round of gross 68, four under par. In this way he had an aggregate score of 133, eleven under par for the two rounds and looked utterly resolute and steadfast in his march to securing the JA Zaman title for the fifth time.
“I feel enlivened and exhilarated about my victory chances in this Championship and look forward to playing another phenomenal round on the final day on Sunday,” said Shabbir. The nearest adversary for Shabbir was Talib Hussain of Islamabad. This battle hardened golf professional managed to uplift his standing in this race for remunerative benefits by a round of excellence yesterday. With the help of an eagle on the 7th hole and six birdies, Talib rang reassuring and cheering bells for his chances in this championship. He came up with a round of gross 67, five under par and that added to his first round score of 74 which gave him a two days aggregate of 141, three under par. Out of the other contenders the most notable one was Matloob Ahmed (Garrison Club). Utterly disappointed with his first round performance when he had a messy round of gross 77, Matloob recovered his masterly touch and his score of 67, five under par carried a healing touch. He stood third on the leader board with a score of 144, level par. A few others in line for top positions were Akber Mehroze (Gymkhana) at 145, and four others bracketed at 146 were Muhammad Naeem (Peshawar), Danyaal Jehangir (Gymkhana), Muhammad Munir (Islamabad) and Muhammad Qasim (DHA Karachi). There was a cut after the second round and as a result 56 professional players stood weeded out. Only the best 44 professionals will play on the final day (today).
Published in Daily Times, February 24th 2019.
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