KARACHI: Eminent golfer Shabbir Iqbal displayed his class when he shot masterly eight under par 64 in the second round to leap three places and attain top slot on the leader board in the UMA 22nd Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) Open Golf Championship at the Karachi Golf Club on Friday.

The winner of the recently held Sindh Open and the Independence Day Cup Open, Shabbir, who is aspiring to regain the Rs 7 million CNS Open and sweep the Karachi-leg of the PGF circuit, had eight birdies in the second round. .

Shabbir, who was engaged in a three-way tie with Mohammad Ashfaq and Azher Hussain at par 72 behind the overnight leader Matloob Ahmed, M. Munir and Daniyal Jehangir, changed the entire scenario and emerged as a strong title contender.

He has two round aggregate of eight under 136 and a commendable five shots lead over the former champion Waheed Baloch and Matloob,.who are on his heels at three under 141.

Baloch, who won the title in 2013, fired four under 68 in the second round while Matloob returned with one over 73.

At two under 142 is Mohammad Ashfaq followed by seasoned M. Munir at par 144. The former shot 70 while the latter finished with two over 74.

Meanwhile, the second round flights of the amateurs could not be completed and resumes on Saturday morning.

“The remaining six flights will resume the play at 6.30am on Saturday,” Chief Operating Officer of the KGC, retired Cdre Ghazanfar Abbas, told Dawn.

Javed Inayat, meanwhile, carded 67, five under par, to emerge as first round leader in 36-holes senior pros. He is followed by Imdad Hussain at scores of 69.

Zeeshan Khan leads the junior pros category after playing a par round.

As many as 42 pros have made the cut that was applied after the second round.

Leader board after second round:

Pros:

136 — Shabbir Iqbal (Islamabad) 72, 64

141 — Waheed Baloch (KGC) 73, 68; Matloob Ahmed (Lahore Garrison) 68, 73

142 — Mohammad Ashfaq (Airmen Golf Club) 72, 70

144 — Mohammad Munir (Islamabad) 70, 74

First round:

Senior pros:

67 — Javed Inayat KGC)

69 — Imdad Hussain (LGC)

72 — Mohammad Akram (Gymkhana)

Junior pros:

72 — Zeeshan Khan

74 — Usman Ali

76 — Nadeem Almas, Akbar Khan.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017