LAHORE: Seasoned professional Shabbir Iqbal regained lead on the second day of the Nabi Yousuf Memorial Golf Tournament, leaving behind first day’s joint leaders Hamza Amin and M. Safdar at the Royal Palm Golf Course here on Saturday.

A superb score of six-under-par-66 helped Shabbir to occupy the top position after starting the second day with one-stroke deficit to the leaders.

Shabbir is now leading the table with a two-day aggregate 134.

In the course of the round on Saturday, Shabbir had birdies on holes 1,3,6,7,10,12,14 and 18, (eight in all), eight pars and surprisingly two minor faults also crept in resulting in a stroke loss each on holes 15 and 17.

“Although I lost strokes on two holes due to missed putts, overall I had a phenomenal round today thanks to the excellent state of the fairways and the smooth ball movement on the greens,” said Shabbir.

Out of the other seasoned professionals in pursuit of glory and some value loaded cash prizes, the nearest ones hoping to fight it out on the final day on Sunday are Muhammed Safdar of Gujranwala and Zubair Satti of Islamabad.

These two champions looked gutsy and gallant during the second round but while Shabbir was sensational in his application of golfing skills, Safdar and Zubair were just a little less resolute and while they appear as the nearest challengers of Shabbir in the final lap on Sunday, the advantage is tilted a bit too much in Shabbir’s favor.

Safdar and Zubair are bracketed at a two days aggregate score of 140, four-under-par and are six strokes behind the leader.

And while Safdar is still hoping for a determined effort on the final day, Zubair is eager to be content with getting hold of the runners up slot.Out of the 86 professionals competing in this tournament, 46 could not qualify for the final day and only 40 will be fighting it out for final honors.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2018