October 14, 2007	Sunday	Shawwal 1, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 13: Fresh from their 1-0 win in the two-Test cricket series against Pakistan, around 10 members of the South African team squad spent the day playing golf at the Royal Palm course on Saturday.

Those who turned up at the course from the South African side were Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, A.B. de Villiers, Paul Harris, Ashwell Prince, J.P. Dumny, Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel and team doctor Von Hagen.

From the host club the golfers who joined in were Fareed Bajwa, Max Babri, Asad Agha, Sharjeel Awan, Faisal Iqbal, Adnan Tahir, Imran F. Mian, Ahmed Sadik, Omer Saeed, Shahid Abbas, Asad Tariq, Faisal Ali Malik, Shoaib Bokhari, Iftikhar Taj Mian, Abdullah Sharif, Taha Mehmood and Dr Mohsin.

The tee off took place at 10:30 hours and during the 18 holes round, the South Africans who impressed with their golfing skills were Shaun Pollock, Boucher and de Villiers. Most impressive of the tee was Pollock whose drives on all the par-5’s and par-4’s were in the 300 yard mark.

He certainly looked adept with the driver. Although his approach shots at times were not as accurate as his tee shots. Boucher and de Villiers displayed an all round steady game and though they had played golf after a considerable lapse, the touch of class and control was fairly apparent. South African captain Graeme Smith was brilliant in patches but had a difficult time when ever he went into the bunkers.

At the end of the golf round, the South Africans were all praise for the hospitality and in particular the standard of the golf course and wished that they could come here and play again.

The team manager Goolam Rajah complimented Ramzan Sheikh, the CEO of the club and also Haseeb Gardezi, the GM of Royal Palm for extending such co-corporation. As a token of appreciation, the South Africans signed two cricket bats and two t-shirts which will subsequently be sold and the proceeds given to charity.

It was most probably the first activity of the South African team, other than cricket, since their arrival on Oct 26 to play two Tests and five one-day matches.