March 28, 2003	Friday	Muharram 24, 1424

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LAHORE, March 27: In all 252 golfers in four different events professional, amateur, ladies and seniors will take part in the 5th Faysal Bank Open Golf Tournament-54 holes to begin at the Lahore Gymkhana course from Friday.

Matloob Ahmad (Lahore Gymkhana) will defend his title in the professional event in which a good number of 58 golfers have confirmed the participation.

Shabbir Iqbal (Islamabad), the current Pakistan Open champion, Imdad Hussain (Lahore Garrison) who won Pakistan Open title in 1993, 1996 and 1998 are the other prominent professional taking part in the three-day event carrying a total cash prize of Rs 2,50,000.

Mohammad Munir (Islamabad), Mohammad Akram (Gymkhana), Muhammad Tariq (Islamabad), Abbas Ali (Gymkhana), Mehmood Kiyani (Islamabad), Akhtar Ali (Gymkhana) and Mohammad Irfan (Rawalpindi) are the other top golfers appearing in the professional event.

The winners of the professional event, besides a trophy, will get Rs 41,000 while prizes upto 30 position holders will also be delivered.

In the amateur section, 112 golfers are competing.Shahid Javed Khan, the national amateur champion in 2001 is the reigning champion of this competition. Only those golfers who have 14 and below handicap are eligible to take part.

The other prominent golfers in the amateurs event are Tariq Mehmood (Islamabad), Vaqas Ahmed (Rawalpindi), Mir Maaz Mahmood, Aadil Jehangir, Sameer Iftikhar, Omer Tiwana, Sardar Murad Khan and Murad A Khan (Gymkhana).

Sixteen entries for ladies section and 66 for the seniors were also received. Ladies having 36 and below handicap can take part in the two-day event. The seniors competition is of one-day only to be held on Saturday. In seniors a golfer who has 18 and below handicap with age of above 55 years can take participate.

A car for Hole-in-One at par-3’s is also on stake for all.

Lahore Gymkhana captain Karamatullah Chaudhary has said that Aalam Sethi has been named as tournament director.

Karamatullah said that the Gymkhana course has 72 pars and is 6554 yards long—3386 out and 3168 yards in.