KARACHI, Dec 26: Amjad Yousuf fired a splendid three-under-par 69 to take two-stroke second round lead in the Caltex 36th Pakistan Open golf championship at Karachi Golf Club (KGC) on Friday.

The 25-year-old KGC golfer who carded one-under-par 71 on the first day, jumped to the top with a brilliant second round, playing 36 at front nine and had an excellent round of 33 on the back nine.

His back nine included as many as four birdies. Overall Amjad had five birdies and two bogeys in his round of 69.

He matched the opening day’s three-under-par round by team-mate Nadeem Inayat who slipped to sixth after carding a round of two-over-par 74.

Defending champion Mohammad Shabbir Iqbal of Pakistan Navy was struggling at 16th after rounds of 70 and 77.

Having a handicap of two, Ali Haji of KGC was leading the the amateurs with an aggregate of 148. After a poor round of 77 on the opening day, Ali recovered to get back in form, scoring one-under-par 71 to emerge as leader in gross contest.

Vaqas with two rounds of 74 was the joint leader, Ali Hai was at 148 and two strokes adrift was Tariq Mahmood from Islamabad with 150 in a pack of 57 golfers.

In the Inter-association team match, Punjab’s Vaqas Ahmed, Shahid Javed Khan and Adil Jahangir were the leaders with a score of 456.

Sindh comprising Ali Haji, Muhammad Ali Hai, Faisal Jafri and Ansar Mahmood were placed at second with 462, followed by NWFP (471) and Balochistan (486).

Leading second round scores:

140 Amjad Yousuf 71, 69

142 Karam Hussain 70, 72

142 Ansar Mahmood 70, 72

143 Muhammad Tahir 71, 72

143 Nadeem Inayat 69 74

144 Muhammad Tariq 74, 70

144 Taimur Hussain 73, 71

144 Matloob Ahmed 72, 72

144 Taj Nabi 72, 72

144 Javed Inayat 71, 73

Amateurs (gross):

148 Ali Haji 77, 71

148 Vaqas Ahmed 74, 74

150 Tariq Mahmood 73, 77

151 Khushal Khan 73, 78

152 Jamil Khalid 75, 77

153 Shahid Javed Khan 78, 75

154 Waseem Rana 79, 75

155 Muhammad Ali Hai 81, 74

155 Sajjad Jamil 80, 75

155 Javed Khan 79, 76.—APP