KARACHI: Matloob Ahmed, holding a single-shot lead, had no room for error. He made no mistake, ensuring he didn’t give anyone in the chasing pack a chance.
With a sublime 66 — the second day in a row he’s gone six-under — on Sunday, Matloob clinched the CNS Open Golf Championship for a fourth time, and six years after his last triumph.
Matloob had stormed to the top of the leaderboard with a sizzling performance in Saturday’s third round, but what was expected to be a hotly-contested race to the finish over the last 18 holes eventually fizzled out as his rivals fell by the wayside.
By the end of it all, Matloob finished at 19-under 269, five shots ahead of Minhaj Maqsood Warraich, who started the day four strokes behind in fourth place and ended as runner-up after a 67.
Shabbir Iqbal and Mohammad Zubair had teed off as Matloob’s closest rivals but slipped to third and fifth after rounds of 71 and 73 respectively.
Defending champion Ahmed Baig (66), who ended Shabbir’s run of four successive crowns last year, finished fourth on 276, a stroke either side of Shabbir and Zubair.
Shahbaz Ali won the two-round junior professionals’ event while Mohammad Tariq was crowned the senior professionals champions. Hannah Amjad, meanwhile, took the ladies’ title.
Omar Khalid edged Sadiq Habib by two strokes in the amateurs’ tournament held over three rounds. Humera Khalid won the two-round ladies amateurs.
All eyes on Sunday were on the professionals’ event where Matloob laid the marker early on with birdies on the first and third holes.
Shabbir, meanwhile, couldn’t keep up and by the turn, he found himself three behind Matloob and he then bogeyed the 10th to fall further off the pace.
For Ahmed, it was the first two rounds that cost him dearly, even though he matched Matloob in the last two.
Matloob had opened a sizeable gap and a run of five birdies from the 12th hole effectively sealed the title for him. Having gone bogey free till the last hole, he could afford to err on that one and still come out on top.
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2025
