Daily Times

LAHORE: The 1st Next Summer Spring Golf Tournament, an effort of NEXT Group, is in progress at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course. This golf competition is spread over two days and the first day (Saturday) was reserved for contests in the women’s category, juniors segment, veterans age groups and seniors section. And at the conclusion of the first round Rabia Tiwana topped in the women’s gross section while Rahina Ehtisham was the best one in the net section. As for the seniors, many of them may be grouped in this segment because of age but their golfing skills defy this categorization and they played like men possessed and their scores were worth applauding yesterday. The one who stood out as a champion was Javed A Khan. Inspite of the heat and strong competition, he hit the ball exceedingly well and over the 18-hole stroke play competition, not once did he stray from the fairways. On all par fours and par fives, his tee shots were loaded with accuracy and distance. And as for his fairway shots, they too reflected crispness and class. His score of gross 76 fetched him the first gross. The runner-up in the gross section was Shoaib Bokhari with a score of gross 80 while third gross position was captured by Asad Khan. In the race for net honours, Wajid Sethi won the first net with a score of net 72. Dr Jawad, the heart specialist who has recently taken to golf, was second in net. His score was net 72. Amongst the net contenders Farooq Aziz came third. His net score was 73.

The amateurs will compete over 18 holes on Sunday (today). A total of 122 amateurs will vie for glory and achievement and many of the participants are golfers of prominence who will add colour to the occasion with exhibition of quality golf and winning honours will only be possible if performance is excellence oriented. A large number of the contenders are single handicappers who create a winning touch whenever they compete and the more prominent ones are Wazir Ali, Sardar Murad, Salman Jehangir, Shafiq Bhatti, Raza Saeed, Waleed Zubair, Nasir Irshad, Jamal Nasir, Farooq A Khan and Khurshid Aziz.