KARACHI: It was the difference between the senior amateurs of Lahore Garrison Greens and Karachi Golf Club that made the difference overall.

KGC’s senior amateurs had done well on the opening day of the Pakistan Golf Federation Inter-Club Championship to keep LGG in check but they couldn’t repeat their first-round performance on Saturday.

LGG converted a one-shot deficit in that category into a 10-shot advantage and that’s the margin of their lead heading into Sunday’s final round, having entered the second day just two strokes ahead.

With three teams battling across six categories, LGG have an aggregate of 1604 with KGC on 1614 and Peshawar Golf Course well behind in third on 1683, despite having had the best outing among junior boys ‘A’. It was KGC-LGG one-two in three categories.

The amateurs and senior amateurs play three rounds each, with junior boys ‘A’ and ‘B’, ladies amateurs and junior girls playing two rounds each.

In the senior amateurs, LGG’s Col Asif Mehdi (76), Tariq Mehmood (77) and Col Mohammad Shafi (78) took their side to 468 with KGC’s Asad I.A. Khan, Cdre Majid Satti and Khurram Khan only able to get 80, 81 and 81 respectively. Peshawar are a further 28 shots behind KGC at 506.

KGC’s amateurs were on song on Saturday, though, as Yashal Shah and Saim Shazli firing in scintillating rounds of three-under 69 each. Hamza Shikoh Khan added an even-par 72 to take them to 437, seven strokes ahead of LGG. None of LGG’s amateurs could break par with Damil Attaullah and Ahmad Kiyani getting 73 each and Noman Ilyas returning a card of 74.

For Peshawar, who ended the round at 469, Hamza Khattak was the lone star as he matched his first-round score of one-under 71.

Peshawar’s Laraib-ur-Rehman (78) and Basil-ur-Rehman (83) gave them a one-shot lead over KGC in the junior boys ‘A’ contest which teed off on Saturday. Sameer Syed got 79 and Samir Rizwan Syed 83 for KGC with LGG trailing in that category by 34 strokes at 195.

Ladies and junior girls ensured that LGG didn’t fall too much off the pace.

Lady golfers Suneyah Osama and Zahida M Durrani fired rounds of 80 and 84 respectively for a 12-stroke lead over Peshawar’s Syeda Iman Ali Shah (86) and Ayesha Moazzam (90) and a 19-shot lead over KGC’s Naghmana Atif (90) and Tabassum Sharif (93).

No one could come close to LGG’s junior girls thanks to a splendid 82 by Bushra Fatima. Hadiya Osama got 92 as they led Peshawar’s Ramin Amin (95) and Sara Amin (103) by 24 shots and KGC’s Amna Amjad (92) and Mehar Maqbool (115) by 33.

KGC’s junior boys ‘B’ had a good outing, as Abdullah Ansar and Shahvaiz Abbas returned cards of 72 and 75 for a 12-stroke lead over LGG’s Rehan Babar (79) and Shahbaz Ali (80). Peshawar ended the day 26 shots behind at 173, and their chances of an overall title look very slim.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2021