Daily Times

LAHORE: Mohammed Shabbir Iqbal of Islamabad, the number one ranked professional of Pakistan, won the Defence Raya Open Professional Golf Championshipwhich came to conclusion after four vibrant and engagement laden golfing rounds at the par 72 impeccable Defence Raya Golf Course here on Monday. All through the four rounds of this championship, Shabbir played like a high toned and predominant competitor and as a result he surpassed all his fellow contenders.Not that his opponents lacked flair or adroitness or artfulness,it was just that Shabbirwas excellence personified. Over the four rounds, Shabbir was the principal super one in full control of his golfing expertise and skills and starting from round one he remained the top name on the leader board with a 70 gross on the first day,followed by a 67 on the second day another useful 70 on the third day and a spectacular 66 on the final day.Through this unveiling of his potency and sturdiness, he ended the four rounds with an aggregate score of 273,fifteen under par and emerged as the Defence Raya Open title bolder 2021 beating his nearest rival Mohammad Shahzad of Lahore Garrison by a margin of eleven strokes .

Shahzad a lesser known golfer impressed with his competence in shot making, short game and putting skills and appeared to be a likely one who would assert his superiority very soon.The athletic build was there and mental toughness was evident.His scores in this championship were 70,77,68 and 69 and the aggregate for four championship days was 284,four under par.Ending up at third slot was Aadil Jehangir of PAF Skyview. His four rounds scores were 71,72,74 and 73 and the overall aggregate 290,two over par.

Other position holders were Matloob Ahmed (Lahore Garrison) at 292,Muhammad Alam (PAF Skyview) 292,Wisal Khan (Peshawar), Taimoor Khan (Peshawar), TalatIjaz (Gymkhana) and Mohammad Munir (Rawalpindi) all at 296,Ahmed Baig (PAF Skyview) and Ashiq Hussain (Multan) at 297.The prize money for the championship was five million rupees and top forty earned good money.In the race for success amongst junior professionals, M Saqib of Lahore Garrison engraved his name on the winning trophy and first cash prize with a dependable display of powerful hitting and balanced play around the greens.Musa Khan of Peshawar came second and Abdul Wadood of Multan came third.