LAHORE Mohammad Shabbir and Mohammad Munir etched their names in the country's history books by guiding Pakistan to its first Mission Hills World Cup after finishing in the top three at the Asian qualifiers in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, on Saturday.
The unheralded Pakistani duo shot a superb three-under-par 68 in the final round foursomes at the Seri Selangor Golf Club to finish third behind winners Singapore, represented by Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat, and the Philippines' pair of Mars Pucay and Angelo Que.
Lam and Mardan secured their fourth World Cup appearance together after claiming a one-stroke victory following a closing 72 for a four-day total of 15-under-par 269 while Que and Pucay also signed off with a 72 to finish one back.
A World Cup appearance continues to elude the Malaysian pair of Iain Steel and Danny Chia as they ended fourth after a battling 71 while Myanmar finished a further three strokes behind following a 74.
'Pakistan have played in the cricket, hockey and squash World Cups, but never before in our history had we featured in golf's World Cup. Still we made our presence felt here and, hopefully, we will be able to perform well in China, too,' said a delighted Munir, who plays on the Asian Tour.
'I don't know how to describe how we feel right now. I'm sure everyone in Pakistan will be very happy,' he added.
Pakistan mixed their scorecard with four birdies against two bogeys before a nailing crucial final birdie on the 18th hole to seal a historic debut against the world's best in China later in November.
Shabbir, who recently recovered from a long-term back injury, relied mostly on Munir's experience. And he said that his partner steered them to third place.
'I couldn't read the greens this week and I told Munir that I was out of form. But he told me that he had confidence in me and guided me along. That's how we made the cut,' he said.
Lam and Mardan last qualified for the World Cup in 2006 at Seri Selangor and they were delighted to win again at the par-71 course.
'It's been two years now that we have played here and we've won twice. Maybe this course likes us or perhaps we like the course. We kept ourselves very relaxed throughout, which was the key to our completing our mission and getting ourselves into the top-three,' said Mardan, a double Asian Tour winner.
Lam, winner of last year's Volvo Masters of Asia, said 'All we did was to focus on our own game. Starting out with a big gap over the third place this morning, we felt comfortable out there. The World Cup is such an enjoyable experience and I really missed playing in it for the last couple of years.'
Pucay and Que also qualified for their second straight World Cup appearance after a solid week. They recovered from an early bogey with an eagle on the sixth hole before dropping shots again with double bogeys on the 10th and 18th holes to finish with a four-day total of 270. Que was pleased to have achieved the goal.
'It didn't matter if we finished first, second or third, it only mattered if we qualified for the World Cup. It was a relaxing feeling after nine holes,' said Que, who finished top-10 at the World Cup with Pucay last year.
Pucay is relishing the opportunity to better their top-10 finish at Mission Hills. 'There was no pressure for us. We just wanted to hit it on the fairway on every hole. And that's what we managed to achieve and we are happy and excited making it into the World Cup again.'
Malaysias Chia and Steel, chasing Malaysias first World Cup appearance in eight years, fought gamely but a bogey on the 17th hole dashed their hopes. Steel, playing in his fifth qualifier, praised Pakistan for their courageous effort.
'Pakistan played well. They shot three under and in this format it is very good. I had a feeling after the 14th hole that we needed to make some birdies and we were pressing but unfortunately, we didn't get it done,' said Steel.
Final round scores
269 - Singapore (LAM Chih Bing, Mardan MAMAT) 64-71-62-72
270 - Philippines (Mars PUCAY, Angelo QUE) 60-72-66-72
274 - Pakistan (Mohammad SHABBIR, Mohammad MUNIR) 68-73-65-68
(Top three teams qualify for Mission Hills World Cup)
276 - Malaysia (Danny CHIA, Iain STEEL) 66-74-65-71
279 - Myanmar (Zaw MOE, Soe Kyaw NAING) 67-73-65-74
284 - Hong Kong (David FREEMAN, WONG Woon Man) 66-72-67-79
286 - Bangladesh (Milon AHMED, Siddikur RAHMAN) 69-74-69-74
293 - Indonesia (Maan NASIM, SARMILIH) 69-77-72-75
296 - Sri Lanka (Lalith KUMARA, Anura ROHANA) 70-77-68-81
296 - Nigeria Christian UTUBOR, Edet UMOH) 70-80-69-77
308 - Ghana (Theophilus KODJO, Emos KORBLAH) 74-81-75-78
309 - Brunei (Faiz DAMIT, Pengiran HASSANAL) 74-77-77-81
332 - Mauritius (Rajesh MOHUN, Jocelyn SAVRIMOOTOO) 77-89-74-92
DQ - NEPAL (Ramesh NAGARKOTI, Pashupati SHARMA)
82-84-75
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