LAHORE: Matloob Ahmad of Lahore Garrison Club won the 7th J. A. Zaman Memorial Open Golf Championship at the Lahore Gymkhana course here on Sunday. And the champion Matloob vanquished was none else but the remarkable M. Shabbir Iqbal, the defending champion and number one ranked golf professional of the country.

At the start of the final round on Sunday these two rivals were bunched together at a score of gross 209, seven under par and as the battle of champions gathered momentum ,the proceedings oozed with stressful moments as each stakeholder played to the best of his ability, avoiding the slightest of errors and applying experience and skillful talent to the maximum. While honors remained even on the front nine, the back nine brought some lucky breaks for Matloob as Shabbir lost strokes on two holes and tilt turned Matloob’s way.

In the closing holes, Matloob was at his playing best and looked formidable as compared to his combatant of decades. With a final 18 holes score of gross 68 and a four rounds aggregate score of 277, eleven under par, he achieved victory over Shabbir by a margin of three strokes.

“I have strategized well for this grand event hosted by Hamid Zaman Sahib and cast off the spell of losses to Shabbir over the past four years” said Matloob. “Hopefully ,this spell of success will continue.”

The third position in this professional segment went to Muhammed Munir of Rawalpindi. His score for the four rounds was 287. Shahid Javed Khan of WAPDA ended up fourth with a four rounds aggregate of 288 followed by Talib Hussain(islamabad) 289 and Hamza Amin (Islamabad) 289 and Waheed Baloch (Karachi Golf Club) 289.

Top position in amateur section was achieved by Ghazanfar Mehmood of Green City Golf Club. His winning gross score was 222.Second slot went to Qasim Ali Khan of Gymkhana, his score being 233. Salman Jehangir came third with a score of 237. Net section winner was the steady and competitive Shahid A Khan.

Second net winner was Jaffar Masih and third net was won by Danish Javed.

At the conclusion of the Championship, Hamid Zaman, Head of Zaman Family and Omar Zaman awarded prizes to the winners.

Other results: 1st; Malik Abdul Qayum, second; Shahbaz Gill,joint second;Ladies Suneyah Osama, 1st gross; Iman Ali Shah, 1st net; Veterans, Javed A. Khan, 1st gross; Tariq Rehman, 1st net; Seniors, Asad Khan, 1st gross; Wing Cmdr Abdul Nafay, 1st net; Junior Professionals, Muhammed Saqib, 1st; Senior Professionals, Muhammed Akram, 1st;

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2020