KARACHI: Just one round of golf turned a six-way tie at the top to a seemingly two-horse race for the Sindh Open Golf Championship title here at the Arabian Sea Country Club on Saturday.

Matloob Ahmed and Mohammad Ashfaq will enter Sunday’s final round with a five-shot lead over their closest rivals, an advantage that should see a battle between the duo for the trophy. Alongside them in the leader flight would be Ansar Mehmood and Mohammad Munir, the duo nearest to them.

What could count as an advantage for the leading duo is the fact that Pakistan’s number one golfer Shabbir Iqbal, the man who has made his name by making up huge deficits in the final round, isn’t in the leaders’ flight. Shabbir is seven strokes behind Matloob and Ashfaq with 18 holes to play.

It’s an advantage for Shabbir too. “It definitely is an advantage because I don’t have to see what the leaders are doing and I can play my own way,” the four-time defending champion told Dawn after the second round. “I can play with my mind free, away from the stress that I have to match the ones in the lead. On a single day, seven shots isn’t a gap too big to bridge.”

Shabbir believes there will be pressure on both Ashfaq and Matloob at not knowing what he is doing.

“Every player in contention will have some sort of pressure affecting him,” he said. “The one in the lead is focused on keeping ahead. He has the pressure of being on par on each hole. The one behind has to keep pushing to reduce the margin and that’s a different pressure. At the end of the day, the key is to keep focus and have the confidence in your abilities.”

Matloob, Shabbir’s long-time rival, however wasn’t too concerned.

“It doesn’t matter really,” he told Dawn. “I’ve played with him in the leader flight on the final day a lot of times so I wasn’t really fazed if he was playing with me tomorrow [Sunday].”

He didn’t believe though that the advantage he and Ashfaq hold is decisive.

“Ashfaq has a good track record in Karachi but I wouldn’t totally believe it’s a two-horse race at the moment,” he said. “I can’t say already that it would be a battle between the two of us because the wind for the last two days hasn’t really helped and it can change the complexion of the contest within no time.”

Six golfers, including Ashfaq, Munir and Ansar, had finished top on the first day but there was no doubt to whom the second round belonged to. Matloob, who was a stroke behind the leaders, shot a bogey-free 65 with seven birdies for a 10-under 134 to leave the rest of the field chasing his shadows.

“I was focusing on putting well,” said Matloob. “The greens were good today so that helped too. Hopefully I can do more of the same tomorrow.”

Ashfaq ran Matloob close, hitting seven birdies to match him. But a bogey meant he finished with a 66. Munir and Ansar were identical on the second day running with both shooting a 71 to finish on five-under 139.

Mohammad Qasim, one of the leading six on the first day, shot a 72 and is on 140 after 36 holes. Another first-day leader Shahid Javed Khan (73) is tied with Shabbir (69) on 141 while three golfers are on 142 including Tahir Nasim (73), Latif Rafique (72) and Mohammad Tariq (71).

Mohammad Asif (71) and Mohammad Amir (71) are a stroke further adrift while Waheed Baloch (73), Mohammad Alam (72) and Khalid Khan (71) are all on 144. Among the first-day leaders, Mohammad Afzal had the worst second round. His 77 means he is one of five professionals on 145.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2018