Shabbir surges into lead as Afsar gets hole-in-one

Published July 10, 2021
HUMNA Amjad plays an approach shot during the first round of the CNS Open Golf Championship ladies event at the Karachi Golf Club on Friday.—Shakil Adil/White Star
HUMNA Amjad plays an approach shot during the first round of the CNS Open Golf Championship ladies event at the Karachi Golf Club on Friday.—Shakil Adil/White Star

KARACHI: Afsar Ali had a morning to celebrate at the Karachi Golf Course on Friday.

His tee shot on the par-3 third hole on the red course found the green and, with the wind in his favour, the ball rolled into the hole.

It was the first hole-in-one at this edition of the CNS Open Golf Championship and Afsar’s reward was a brand new car from one of the tournament sponsors, Toyota.

Those who manage a hole-in-one after him will receive a fuel card worth Rs100,000 from another of the tournament sponsors, Pakistan State Oil.

But Afsar, who has twice previously got a hole-in-one in his career, is the one who will drive away with the car.

“I was only aiming for the green but thankfully the ball landed close to the hole and went in,” Afsar told reporters.

It was the highlight of Afsar’s second round in which he could only manage a 78 and missed the cut, set at 152, by two strokes.

At the other end of the leaderboard, Shabbir Iqbal powered his way to the top as he fired six birdies for an immaculate five-under 67 to dislodge first-day leader Waheed Baloch (72).

Waheed fell two strokes behind Shabbir at six-under 138, tied with Matloob Ahmed who matched his first-round score of 69 on Friday.

Matching Shabbir with 67 on Friday were young sensation Ahmed Baig and Mohammad Nazir, and the duo are tied for third place, three shots behind Shabbir. Ahmed had a bogey-free round while Nazir hit seven birdies on the day.

Beyond the top five is a group of three at even-par 142 that includes Mudassir Iqbal (69), Mohammad Zubair (70) and Mohammad Zubair of Islamabad (72). Mohammad Munir (72) is a shot further adrift with the mercurial Mohammad Ashfaq (72) trailing him by a stroke.

Omar Khalid stayed true to the hype surrounding him as the next rising star in Pakistan golf as he recovered from an underwhelming 78 in the first round to share the lead in the amateurs’ event with a 72 on Friday. He is tied with Lt Col Ayub Khan at 150 after two rounds.

Arsalan Shikoh Khan (74) and first-round leader Omar Shikoh Khan (80) are two shots adrift of the lead with Abdullah Adil (76) at 153.

Mohammad Saqib and Mohammad Akram maintained their lead on the second day of the event, the former firing a 78 to move to 155 in the junior professionals’ event while Akram’s 73 took him to 142 in the senior professionals’ competition.

The two-round ladies event teed off on Friday with Hamna Amjad seizing the lead with a 73. Rimsha Ijaz is two strokes behind her with Aania Farooq another two shots further adrift.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2021

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