KARACHI: In the end, Matloob Ahmed could even afford a double bogey on the 15th hole and yet win the title. What was expected to be a battle till the last shot here at the Karachi Golf Club (KGC) on Sunday petered out much earlier when the challenge of Hamza Amin faded.

Hamza had very much been on Matloob’s coattails for the first three rounds of the Rashid D. Habib Memorial National Professional Golf Championship. In the final round, when the stakes got high, when the title seemed to be within touching distance, Hamza crumbled under pressure. A maiden title in Karachi will have to wait.

“In a way, you can call it a meltdown,” Hamza told Dawn after the final round where his 75 was only good enough for third place with a four-round aggregate of nine-under 279.

He’d began the day a stroke behind Matloob, who shot a 71 to finish at 14-under 274. Hamza’s meltdown saw Ansar Mehmood (66) and two-time defending champion Shabbir Iqbal (67) pip him to second place with both ending on 12-under 276.

“I was playing well,” Hamza added. “I didn’t do well on the back nine and that proved to be my undoing.”

He was nevertheless dwelling on the positives. “It was my best performance at the KGC which is a positive. Of course there is disappointment because I could’ve won a first title in Karachi but I believe this will give me the confidence to do even better.”

There were nerves all around when the final round teed off on a blustery day. Matloob’s nerves were eased on the fifth hole when he birdied to open up a three-shot advantage after Hamza had bogeyed the fourth.

“It really helped,” Matloob told Dawn. “It released quite a bit of pressure and I know that I just had to match him and I’d be fine.”

Hamza did battle on but Matloob’s advantage remained at the end of the first nine holes after both the leaders bogeyed the ninth.

Hamza’s challenge well and truly ended on the 10th when Matloob birdied and his tee got stuck behind a tree. He then three-putted the 11th hole and missed a five-footer on the 12th for par.

“I lost momentum after the 10th,” admitted Hamza. “In a game that is all about momentum, that was where my fate was sealed.”

Comfortably in the lead, Matloob even double bogeyed the 15th hole — a hole which has troubled him from day one.

“I was lucky I had a comfortable enough lead where I could again falter on the 15th and yet stay ahead,” Matloob told, attributing his success to the hard grind of the three previous rounds. “Building up a lead over the first three rounds was crucial. Without it, I wouldn’t be standing here as a winner.”

As Hamza struggled, Ansar and Shabbir cut the gap on Matloob. However, the six and seven-stroke leads respectively Matloob held over Shabbir and Ansar proved too much. Ansar struck seven birdies, including three in a row in the final three holes while Shabbir struck six birdies.

Mohammad Munir was fourth after he shot a 69 to finish on 283, level with Amjad Yousuf (72) and Mohammad Naeem (74). Waheed Baloch (73) ended a further shot adrift, one stroke ahead of Mohammad Alam (71) and two ahead of Mohammad Nazir (72).

In other competitions, Imdad Hussain won the senior professionals title, Ayaz Gul won the KGC professionals crown, Nabeel Khan was the winner of the KGC caddies category, Latif Khashkheli claimed the KGC senior professionals title and Asad Khan was the best among young professionals.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2019