KARACHI: The Sindh Open Golf Championship tees off here at the Arabian Sea Country Club on Friday, the tournament marking the first of three back-to-back events in the city.

Young sensation Ahmed Baig will defend his title at the three-round event, which is now in its 22nd edition, but the country’s latest wunderkind Omar Khalid — who won the National Amateurs earlier this month — will miss out due to his exams.

The Sindh Open will be followed by the DHA Open and the CAS Open during a three-week swing as golf resumes in the country like the pre-Covid times.

It’s more than 18 months since Ahmed won the Sindh Open for his first professional title. The tournament wasn’t held last year due to the coronavirus outbreak and returns this year at an unusual time with the golfing calendar rejigged for this season.

Competitions will be held in professionals, amateurs, senior professionals, junior professionals and senior amateurs categories, tournament organisers informed at a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday. The event carries a total prize money of Rs3million.

“The tournaments would be televised live on Pakistan Television,” Arabian Sea Country Club chief executive officer and former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Arif Ali Abbasi told reporters.

“I wanted to make the Sindh Open a four-day event but it wasn’t possible due to Covid-19, however we will try again next year to make the event a bigger one.”

Sindh Golf Association president Asad I.A. Khan looked forward to three days of intense golfing action.

“As many as 104 professionals, 27 senior professionals, 13 junior professionals and 14 leading amateurs, making a total of 158 golfers will be teeing off tomorrow,” Asad informed. “The cut is set after 36 holes in the professional and amateur categories and we hope we are able to see some high-quality action over the next three days.”

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2021