KARACHI: Maintaining his consistent run, ace golfer and last year runner-up Waheed Baloch won the fifth Rashid D Habib national professional golf tournament at the Karachi Golf Club on Sunday.

He carded one under 71 in the third and last round to finish with a three-day aggregate of 207, nine under par, to win by one shot.

Mohammad Nazir shot a brilliant 68, four under par, to finish second with eight under par 208 pushing Mohammad Naqas to third who accumulated a score of 209, seven under par. The latter shot two under 70 in the third round.

Defending champion Shabbir Iqbal who was off colour on the opening day, played the best round of five under 67 to share sixth place with Mohammad Talib at 213, three under par, five strokes behind the champion whom he had beaten in the last edition.

Vice Admiral Khan Hasham Bin Saddique, who graced the occasion, awarded the winning purse of Rs4,61,100 to Waheed Baloch amidst applause. Nazir fetched runner-up prize of Rs3, 10,200

Total cash prizes of Rs5.0 million was at stake in the event.

He commended the efforts of sponsors Bank Al Habib for their continuous support to the game and asked other organisations to follow suit.

Bank’s managing director Abbas D Habib was also present on the occasion.

Top golfers of the country – Mohammad Munir, Shabbir Iqbal, Matloob Ahmed and Shahid Javed Khan—were presented Rs1,00,000 apiece as appearance money.

Leader board after third round:

Pros:

207 – Waheed Baloch (KGC) 68, 68, 71

208 – Mohammad Nazir (Islamabad) 70, 70, 68

209 – Mohammad Naqas (Islamabad) 68, 71, 70

210 – Ansar Mahmood (Islamabad) 71, 70, 69

211 – Mohammad Munir (Islamabad) 70, 70, 71

213 – Shabbir Iqbal (Islamabad) 78, 68, 67; Mohammad Talib (Islamabad) 69, 72, 72

214 – Mohammad Safdar Khan (Guj) 72, 69, 73

215 – Mohammad Tahir (Gymkhana) 70, 74, 71; Matloob Ahmed (LGC) 71, 71, 73

216 – Irfan Mahmood (Rawalpindi) 73, 75, 68; Jafal Hussain (Gymkhana) 72, 73, 71; Shahid Javed Khan (Royal Palm) 70, 70, 76.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2016