LAHORE: Mohammad Shabbir of Islamabad with his three days scores of 68, 66 and 71 and an aggregate of 205, eleven under par, won the Nabi Yousaf Memorial Open Golf Championship which concluded at Royal Palm Club Golf Course here on Sunday. Former Pakistan Test captain Wasim Akram and royal Palm CEO Ramzan Sheikh were the chief guests at the prize distribution ceremony. The championship, held from April 13 to 15 in memory of two business icons – Nabi and Yousaf – with the support of Ramzan Sheikh family, witnessed a feast of accuracy loaded stroke making from Shabbir, who is the best professional golfer of Pakistan. Shabbir was again successful into translating his potential and ability into a repeat of earlier triumphs; there were no errant tee shots and hardly any missed putts. And throughout the championship, Shabbir kept an intimidating presence on his opponents to lift 152nd title of his two decades golfing career.
The championship offered a prize money of Rs two million to the top 40 performers. Though Shabbir was in command and control throughout with spectacular rounds of 68 and 66 on the first two days, his last day’s round of 71 was suitably decent and appropriate enough to ensure victory and related glory. His last days gross 71 was compiled with the help of two birdies on holes 12 and 14, fifteen regulation pars and a lone bogie on the 17th hole. The other purposeful competitors used their wealth of experience and skills to negotiate the manifold technical perils of Royal Palm Golf Course. Their efforts were praiseworthy of applause and played remarkably composed golf, hitting fairways and greens and making putts but all they got were positions other than the first. Mohammad Munir of Islamabad, the runner-up in this championship, had rounds of 72, 70 and a final day’s impressive 69 and a total aggregate of 211, five under par.
Another name that sparkled was that of the young Hamza Amin (Islamabad) who emerged with a fantastic first round of 67 followed by a modest second round score of 75 and thereafter on the final day managed an excellence oriented round of gross 69. He ended the three days with an aggregate score of 211, five under par, a score similar to that of Munir. Others to attain various places were Mohammad Safdar (Gujranwala) 215, Muhammad Zubair Satti (Islamabad) 215, Arif Ali (Gymkhana) 216, Sajjad Khan (Islamabad) 219, Shahbaz Masih (Karachi Golf Club) 219, Shafiq Masih (Gymkhana) 219 and Moazzam Sidique (DHA Karachi) 220. Speaking at the concluding ceremony, Wasim Akram was pleased to see the talent of Pakistan professional golfers and advised them to continue seeking honors. He emphasized that mental strength was actually the deciding factor in competitions.
Published in Daily Times, April 16th 2018.