KARACHI: Defending champion Mohammad Shabbir Iqbal made a clean sweep of Karachi-leg of the circuit while retaining the title in the sixth Independence Day Open Golf Championship which concluded at the Defence Authority Country and Golf Club on Sunday.

Prolific golfer Shabbir, who remained in contention for the crown after successive rounds of 70, 70, shot a brilliant three under 69 to win honours by three shots with a three- round aggregate of seven under 209.

Having already won back-to-back CNS Open and Sindh Open, the country’s top golfer completed a rare hat-trick by adding the Independence Day open to his tally.

Apart from a bogey on hole 3 and a double bogey on 6, Shabbir scored six birdies – three on front nine and as many on the back nine – 2, 4, 5, 10, 15 and 18 to turn tide in his favour.

Shafiq Masih, who posted a card of 70, two under, finished runner-up three strokes behind with four under par 212.

Mohammad Munir and Imdad Hussain ended up joint third with two under 214. Both shot two over 74 in the last round.

Overnight leader Matloob Ahmed was relegated to fourth place with one under 215 after playing an unimpressive round of 76.

Zohaib Asif, meanwhile, did the DHA Club proud by retaining the amateur’s crown.

Though Zohaib, who led the field in the first two rounds, was not impressive in the third with three over 75 which includes four bogeys, he maintained his ascendency with one under 215 to win by six strokes.

Zulfiqar Ali produced one under 71 in the third round for three day aggregate of 221 to finish runner-up ahead of M. Rehman, Ghazanfar Mahmood and Waseem Rana.

The senior pros title went to Hassan Akbar who shot one under 71 while Ghani Khan finished runner-up with 73.

Shabbir received a winning purse of Rs248, 000 while Shafiq Masih earned runner-up prize of Rs160,000. A sum of Rs2 million was at stake in the event.

Corps Commander Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani, who graced the occasion, gave away the prizes. Prominent among others who were present included DG Rangers Sindh Maj Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Administrator DHA Brig Mohammad Abdullah, secretary of the golf club retired Lt Col Naeem Azhar and sponsors Amir Waliuddin Chishti.

Top finishers: Pros:

209 — Mohammad Shabbir Iqbal (Islamabad) 70, 70, 69

212 — Shafiq Masih (Gymkhana) 70, 72, 70

214 — Mohammad Munir (Islamabad) 70, 70, 74; Imdad Hussain (Garrison) 61, 69, 74

215 — Matloob Ahmed (Garrison) 70, 69, 76

Amateurs:

215 — Zohaib Asif (DHA) 69, 71, 75

221 — Zulfiqar Ali (MGC) 73, 77, 71

223 — M. Rehman (Royal Palm) 80, 67, 76

226 — Ghazanfar Mahmood (Bahria) 70, 79, 77

227 — Waseem Rana (DHA) 75, 75, 77

Senior pros:

71 — Hassan Akbar (ASCC)

73 — Ghani Khan (KGC).

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2014