LAHORE: Leading national player Shabbir Iqbal posted an excellent seven-under-par-65 card to steal the show on the first day of the sixth J.A. Zaman Memorial Open Golf Champio­nships’ pro event here at Lahore Gymkhana on Friday.

Among 100 professionals, Shabbir of Islamabad stood tall with his fine flow of play with phenomenal and amazing command over his shot making and this is reflected in his score of gross 65, seven under par.

In the course of the first round, Shabbir had eight birdies, nine pars,and just one bogey on the 12th hole and that speaks about the rich round he had played. Another outstanding feature was that he scored three successive birdies on the last three holes — 16th ,17th and 18th — to play impressive Under-7 round.

At the second position is Mohammad Naeem, who is five strokes away to finish the round at 70. Naeem of Peshawar made his presence felt and looks like a potential rival for other in future. Out of the professional aspirants, the one who injected a touch of freshness was Mohammad Rehman of Royal Palm. In his first appearance after becoming a golf professional, he emerged convincingly and is placed in third position behind Shabbir and Naeem.

Other competitors following these three are Mohammed Shahzad (Garrison), Amjad Yousuf (Karachi) and Danyaal Jehangir (Lahore Gymkhana), who are bracketed at 72. At 73, Usman Ali (Garrison), Akber Mehroz (Gymkhana), Mohammed Akhter (Islamabad), Sajid Khan (Islamabad), Dilshad Ali (Karachi) and Waheed Baloch (Karachi) were in the race.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2019