LAHORE: Salman Jahangir hit the longest drive and then led Pakistan to the J.R. Jayawardene Trophy with the only thing missing for him on the opening day of the National Amateur Golf Championships was a place on top of the leaderboard.

Under sunny skies at the Lahore Gymkhana on Wednesday, Salman’s 354-yard shot from the tee saw him win the prize for the longest drive by a considerable distance, with Omer Intesar (340) finishing second, before his 72, to go alongside Qasim Ali Khan’s 76, helped Pakistan win the one-day team event for the J.R. Jayawardene Trophy by seven strokes over Sri Lanka.

Pakistan’s aggregate was 148 with Sri Lankans finishing on 155 after rounds of 76 and 79 by M.H Chalitha Pushpika and R.A.U. Akash Priyamantha respectively.

Salman, though, finds himself a shot off the lead in the race for individual honours with 20-year-old Mohammad Shoaib and Nouman Ilyas firing rounds of one-under 71 to steer clear of the 60-strong field after the first round.

The duo were in serene control with birdies offsetting the bogies; both firing powerful drives and backing them with sublime control over approach shots as well as putting on the greens.

“It’s been a fantastic return for me,” Shoaib said, “and I hope it will get better.”

Nouman, meanwhile, was eyeing improvement over the next three rounds. “It was a good day for me but I will need to improve further to stay in the running for the title.”

Ralfe Aslam Raja is tied with Salman at one stroke behind the leaders with Usama Nadeem alone on 73. Omar Khalid and Umer Farooq are a further stroke adrift as the title race looks too close to call.

A group of three is placed at 75, comprising Rao M.Hassan, Umair Saleem and Saad Habib while as many as nine golfers are bunched at 76 alongside Qasim and Pushpika. They include two youngsters Shahmeer Majid and Sher Ali Khan as well as Hussain Hamid, Muslim Abbas, Noman Asghar, Ahmed Zafar Hayat, Wing Cmdr Umer Farooq.

Pushpika’s compatriot Chanaka Perera is alongside Ahmed Jibran at 77.

The contest for ladies begins from Thursday with two-handicapper Nida Mir from Qatar among the participants. Sisters Parkha and Rimsha Ijaz fired an early warning for the title by finishing one-two in the longest drive competition.

Parkha achieved a distance of 304 yards to win the contest ahead of Rimsha (288) and Amina Tiwana (280).

The gap was significantly narrower in the senior amateurs’ category with Umair Butt edging Col Ikram-ul-Haq

by just two yards. Umair’s drive hit the 305-yard mark while third-placed Mohammad Ali (300) was also close.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023