KARACHI: When Mohammad Munir is in his element, he’s one of the most exciting golfers there is on the local circuit.

For Munir, it’s all about confidence. When he’s backing himself up and going for his shots, he usually sinks them in. Things unravel quickly for him though. His game has always been about attacking the pin.

So a birdie to start off proceedings at the Chief of Air Staff Open Golf Championship was the ideal way to give him the confidence that saw him seize a one-shot lead at the end of the first round here at the Airmen Golf Course on Thursday, when Shahbaz Masih stole the spotlight with a hole-in-one.

“It was a good start, that’s how I like it,” Munir told Dawn after shooting a three-under 69 to claim the sole lead ahead of young golf sensation Ahmed Baig (70).

“The key would be to carry this momentum in the next three rounds,” added Munir who last won the CAS title in 2017.

Munir came into the tournament after a spectacular meltdown at the opening event of the golf season in Karachi — the Rashid D. Habib Memorial Championship at the Karachi Golf Course — where he was a joint-leader at the end of the second round but finished a distant third.

At the CAS Open, he isn’t thinking too much about that. “The windy conditions during that tournament affected my game and I’ve worked on that to ensure a similar thing doesn’t happen again,” he said.

Strong gusts were blowing across the Airmen Golf Course as well on Thursday but Munir was unperturbed. He followed a birdie on the first hole with another on the third. He bogeyed the seventh hole but closed out a solid first round with further birdies on the 10th and 16th holes.

Ahmed had also struggled to adapt to the windy conditions at the KGC during the Rashid D. Habib Memorial event and it seemed that the youngster widely hailed as the future of Pakistan golf had lost his magic touch.

But he showed he’s here to stay, striking five birdies in his 70.

“After the Rashid D. Habib tournament, I went back to Lahore and practiced there before playing two practice rounds here and I was trying to regain my form,” Ahmed told Dawn. “During the practice rounds, there was no wind but today it was very windy which made it difficult but I’m glad I managed to perform.”

Unlike Munir, Ahmed bogeyed his second hole but rebounded quickly with a good chip for a birdie on the next. He birdied his fifth hole but bogeyed the very next hole. It was the same story on the eighth and ninth holes where a bogey followed a birdie.

On the back nine, he birdied the 12th and 18 holes, putting himself two strokes clear of third-placed Mohammad Nazir (72).

Defending champion Shabbir Iqbal is a further stroke adrift, tied on 73 with Mohammad Ashfaq, Talat Ijaz and Mohammad Alam.

Five golfers are on 74 including Zeeshan Khan, Mohammad Zubair, Hamza AMin, Mohammad Tariq and Mohammad Saeed.

Matloob Ahmed, the winner of the Rashid D. Habib Memorial title, had a below-par performance as he finished 12 shots off the lead with a 77 that featured seven bogeys.

While Shahbaz’s eagle on the par-3 sixth hole saw him claim a brand new Toyota Avanza for his feat but he had an otherwise disappointing day as he finished with an 83. His worst hole was the par-5 14th where he needed 10 shots to complete the putt.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2020