KARACHI: This time, the wind didn’t spare anyone.

No one was able to break par in the second round of the Sindh Open Golf Championship, even though Pakistan number one Shabbir Iqbal stretched his lead by two strokes to six at the Airmen Golf Course on Saturday.

The strong gusts blowing since Friday afternoon continued to make shot-making difficult and the best score of the day was an even-par 72. That was achieved by two golfers — Wisal Khan, who is in a group of three closest to defending champion Shabbir heading into Sunday’s final round, and Ahmed Baig, who is 12 shots behind the leader.

Shabbir hit three birdies but had a round of one-over 73 to move to three-under 139 overall with Wisal, Zubair Hussain (74) and Mohammad Naeem (75) at 145.

Mohammad Shahzad (74) is the only golfer on 146, holding a one-stroke lead over a group of three including Matloob Ahmed (77), Shahbaz Masih (76) and Ansar Mehmood (73).

But there seems little chance that the chasers will be able to catch up with Shabbir. Shabbir won five out of eight tournaments in Karachi last year. A first of this year beckons on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2022