LAHORE: The top 77 amateur golfers belonging to all golf courses of the country reached Defence Raya Golf and Country Club Golf Course Lahore on Wednesday for a duel in the 55th Pakistan National Amateur Golf Championship starting here from Thursday (today). Also there are four national players from Afghanistan, two from Iran and two from Bangladesh to challenge the Pakistan’s top contenders, many of whom are heralded and rated highly. And predictions, assessments and statistics seem to favour them when they tee off today at the perfect looking 18 holes Defence Raya Golf Course. This championship was formally declared open yesterday by Brig (r) Nayyar Afzal, Honorary Secretary of the Pakistan Golf Federation, in the presence of Brig Zafar Yasin, Administrator of Defence Housing Authority, and all the foreign and Pakistan players. Ghazanfar Mehmood, the top ranked amateur of Pakistan’s national golf circuit, is a champion whose consistency is almost automatic. He wins tournaments in unruffled fashion and having him as a participant in this national championship is distressing news even for highly talented players like M Rehman, Waseem Rana, Zohaib Asif, Salman Jehangir, Robin Bagh and Sajid Khan. However, the pundits look forward to performances from the highly talented young ones like Ahmed Baig, Nadeem Ahmed, Zunair Aleem, Taimur Shabbir, Walid Zubair and Ahmed Nawaz Tiwana. As far as hot young contenders from Sindh, the young team looks exuberant and the coach from Karachi Ahmed Ali Shah is full of praise for Owais Intesar. As regards the overseas players, the Bangladesh duo comprising Mohammad Farhad and Mohammad Rasel look skillful and eager to use this opportunity of playing in Pakistan to good advantage. A victory here can fetch them big honours on the international front. For the past two days, these two have been practicing at the Defence Raya Golf Course, improving familiarity with the fairways and getting adjusted to the feel of the greens. As for the playing arena, it is all ready to test the skills of the competing golfers with course length now stretching 6820 yards. From the championship markers, the course is likely to present an exacting examination that requires meticulous shot placing accuracy due to the demanding fairways. The infrastructure is top class and the organising team at Defence Raya is expecting that exceptional quality golf will be witnessed during four days of the competition.