KARACHI: It was a day when only a few were able to better their exploits of the previous day. Among the top 10, there was only one. The winds were making it difficult for the competitors at the Rashid D. Habib Memorial National Professional Golf Championship.
That, and another good performance, aided Matloob Ahmed. The overnight leader posted Friday’s best score of three-under 69 here at the Karachi Golf Course, stretching his lead to two shots over closest rival Hamza Amin.
Yet Matloob wasn’t the golfer in the top 10 who’d bettered his score from a day ago. He had been in blistering form on the opening day when he posted a 65 but as his rivals struggled, he’s put himself in pole position for the title with a two-day aggregate of 10-under 134.
“I do think I’m well-placed at the moment,” he told Dawn. “I was confident after my performance in the first round. I could’ve done even better but it was a tough day for everyone. Even for me, not everything was perfect. I missed three birdie putts and a couple of par putts today.”
Nevertheless, Matloob did sink in five birdies. He looked primed to follow Thursday’s nine-birdie show when he birdied three of the first five holes to start the second round. He bogeyed the sixth but hit back with a birdie on the eighth.
The back nine was where Matloob missed the birdie putts. He bogeyed the 15th hole before he birdied the following hole.
Starting the day a stroke behind Matloob, Hamza fell further behind when he bogeyed the second hole. However he rebounded superbly, hitting four birdies on the front nine. He could’ve closed in on Matloob but a bogey on the 10th saw him post a 70 for an eight-under 136.
While Hamza kept pace, Waheed Baloch fell off it. He shot a 71 and is one of two golfers tied on 139. The other is Amjad Yousuf (70).
“The wind made it really tough,” Waheed told Dawn. “I’ll try my best to close the gap in the next round. It’s not over just yet.”
Two-time defending champion Shabbir Iqbal is a further two shots adrift, tied on 141 with Mohammad Alam and Ansar Mehmmod after all three shot a 72.
Mohammad Naeem was the golfer among the top 10 who had bettered his first-day score. He carded a 70 to sit eighth on 142.
Mohammad Ashfaq (72) and Kamran Shafiq (73) rounded off the top 10 with both a further stroke adrift.
The cut was set at 151, meaning the field of 100 golfers has now been reduced to 54 for the final two days of the championship.
Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2019
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