KARACHI: Vivek Anand, Damil Attaullah and Omar Khalid triumphed in different age groups as the four-day Faldo Series Pakistan tournament came to a close on Sunday; the trio alongside girls’ winners Aania Farooq and Hamna Amjad earning a ticket to the Asia Grand Finals of the tournament, which will be played in Vietnam in March.

Vivek shot a final-round 75 at the Defence Authority Golf Club for a total of 10-over 298 to claim the Boys’ Under-21 title. In his earlier rounds, Vivek had fired 72, 77 and 74. Ralfe’e Aslam Raja, who had a share of the lead at the end of the third round, had a disastrous fourth round with his 83 seeing him take second place.

Damil also ended with an eight-stroke advantage over Waleed Chachar in the Boys’ Under-18 event. He shot a 72 — his best performance over the four rounds — to finish on 14-over 302 after earlier rounds of 75, 76 and 79. Taimur Ali Khan, who was only two strokes adrift at the start of the fourth round, ended a whopping 14 strokes back after he could only manage 86. Waleed took second place with a final-round 75.

Omar began the final round of the Boys’ Under-16 competition with a slim one stroke lead over Syed Yashal Shah. Yashal ran him close in the final round, shooting a 79 but couldn’t catch Omar who shot a 78. Omar’s earlier scores were 78, 75 and 80 for an aggregate of 23-over 311.

Aania had built a whopping 30-stroke lead over the first three days and her title in the Girls’ Under-21 category was academic. She won by 38 strokes over Amna Amjad — the only other competitor in that age group — after carding an 81 to follow up scores of 73, 81 and 75 in the previous rounds and give her an overall 22-over 310.

Hamna Amjad and Daniah Syed were tied for the lead in the Girls’ Under-16 event at the start of the final round but the former prevailed after after carding an immaculate 73 that gave her an overall score of 17-over 305. Daniah could only manage 79.

The scores at this year’s championship were on the higher side than in previous years and they suggest there is little chance of any of this year’s winner matching their compatriot Ahmed Baig, who clinched the Faldo Series Asia Under-21 Championship two years ago at the Laguna Lang Co Golf Club in Vietnam.

“The conditions were very unusual because Karachi was cold and there were extremely windy conditions which affected the scores,” tournament director Asad I.A. Khan told Dawn.

Asad, also a a vice president of the Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF), was quick to add though that there is little chance of any of the Vietnam-bound quintet of emulating Ahmed.

“There is very little or no chance of having an Asian winner,” he said. “While more and more golf is being played, the standard of the golf isn’t improving as we would like. We can only hope that Damil and Humna, who will be participating in the tournament for a third time, can conjure up something in Vietnam.”

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2020