KARACHI: Producing awesome performance, prolific golfer Mohammad Shabbir Iqbal recaptured the Open crown in the Faysal Bank 16th Sindh Open Golf Championship which concluded at the Arabian Sea Country Club on Sunday.

Continuing from where he had the other day, Shabbir blasted two under par 70 in the third round to end the jinx and win by four strokes. His three rounds aggregate scores being nine under 207.

M Ashfaque, who was sharing the third place with three players six strokes behind the overnight leader, surged to finish runner-up with five under 211 – 73, 70, 68.

Shabbir fetched winning purse of Rs 2,19,000 while Ashfaque received runner-up prize of RS 1,47,000. Cash prizes of Rs2.0 million were at the stake.

Overnight leader Ghazanfar Mahmood of Rawalpindi, whose winning run was interrupted by Salman Jehangir in a playoff last year, followed suit of Shabbir by winning back the title.

He finished with a score of 220, four over par, to win honours by 11 strokes. After successive rounds of 73, 73, Ghazanfar fired two over 74 in the third round.

The second place was shared by Mohammad Zubair and former champion Waseem Rana.

The juniors and ladies titles were scooped by Saud Irfan and Humaira Khalid, respectively.

Tahir Naseem, meanwhile, stole the limelight scoring eagle on three successive days on same hole (No 4) that earned him cash prizes of Rs 25,000 apiece from sponsors – Faysal Bank and Coca Cola.

The closing ceremony was attended among others by chief executive of the ASCC Arif Ali Khan Abbasi, SGA president, Asad I. A. Khan and representatives of sponsors.

Top finishers: Pros:

207 – Mohammad Shabbir Iqbal (Islamabad) 69, 68, 70

211 – M. Ashfaque (AGC) 73, 70, 68

214 – Matloob Ahmed (Gymkhana) 75, 68, 71

Amateurs:

220 -- Ghazanfar Mahmood (Rawalpindi) 73, 73, 74

231 -- Mohammad Zubair (SGA) 77, 79, 75; Waseem Rana (DHA) 80, 78, 73

234 -- Mohsin Zafar (Royal Palm) 79, 74, 81

Senior amateurs:

169 – Retired Major Shahid Arshad (ASCC) 85, 84

170 – Omar Khan Bangash (KGC) 86, 84

171 – Retired Brig Saleem Abdullah (DHA) 79, 92

178 – Asad I. A. Khan (ASCC) 86, 92

Ladies Gross:

77 -- Humaira Khalid (DHA)

80 -- Aaania Farooq (Airmen Golf Club)

Juniors:

163 -- Saud Irfan (DHA) 74, 89

165 -- Saad Imtiaz (KGC) 80, 85

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2014