KARACHI: Shabbir Iqbal had a stellar 2021 in Karachi, winning five out of eight championships in the city.

And the Pakistan number one begins the defence of one of those titles when the Rashid D. Habib Memorial National Professional Golf Tournament tees off on Thursday as the year’s opening event.

The tournament will begin, however, at the Karachi Golf Course where Shabbir failed to win the title at the Chairman JCSC Championship in December.

That was won by Minhaj Maqsood, who has returned to the local circuit after three years in South Africa and has immediately started to threaten Shabbir’s dominance.

The 25-year-old Minhaj joins another youngster Ahmed Baig, runner-up to Shabbir at the Rashid D. Habib Memorial last year, as Shabbir’s new challengers.

His old rivals Matloob Ahmed, a winner in 2019 and 2020, and former champions Mohammad Munir and Waheed Baloch remain but this is a tournament where Shabbir has traditionally dominated — winning four out of the last 10 editions.

Four rounds and 72 holes will decide whether he makes it five out of 11.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2022