KARACHI: A week ago, Minhaj Maqsood led through two rounds before fading to a fighting third at the Sindh Governor’s Cup Golf Championship.

Now, he’s in the lead heading into the final 18 holes at the country’s most lucrative golf tournament.

Minhaj, who returned to the Pakistan Golf Federation Tour after a three-year gap last week, fired a stunning six-under 66 at the Chairman JCSC Golf Championship to go top of the leaderboard at the end of the third round here on Friday.

The performance at the Karachi Golf Course took Minhaj to a total of eight-under 208 and a two-shot lead over Pakistan’s top golfer Shabbir Iqbal (67), who will be looking to make it two titles in two weeks after his victory at the Governor’s Cup.

Talib Hussain (69) is a shot further adrift while Mohammad Zubair (68) and Abdul Zahoor (69) sit on 212.

Matloob Ahmed, who was the joint-leader with Mohammad Khalid at the end of the second round, slipped to five shots off the lead after he could only return a card of 72.

Mohammad Munir and Mohammad Ashfaq both fired 70 and are a shot behind Matloob at 214.

Three other golfers are at 215, with Khalid (75) and Ahmed Baig (73) at 216.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2021