KARACHI, Aug 22: Pakistan Navy’s Amjad Yousuf fired a superb score of four-under-par 68 to take over as the leader on the second day of the CNS Open Golf Championship at the Karachi Golf Club on Friday.
Amjad, who was joint number two after conclusion of first round displaced overnight leader Matloob Ahmed with a total of six-under-par 138 after the first 36 holes of the Rs 1.2 million championship.
On a hot and humid day, Amjad tamed the challenging conditions at the Karachi Golf Course with birdies on hole no. 2, 9, 14, 17 and 18 to finish as the joint best scorer of the second round alongwith Muhammad Tariq.
Overnight leader Matloob Ahmed of Lahore Gymkhana who registered a score of three-under par 69 in the first round slipped to the third position after carding a par 72 round.
Tariq, after an average score of the first round fought back carding a three-under-par 69 to take the second spot just two strokes behind Amjad.
Another good show came from Abdul Jabbar who turned in a card of three-under par 69 to finish at the fourth place. He had scored one over par 73 on the opening day.
Defending champion and Pakistan No. 1 Shabbir Iqbal of Pakistan Navy slipped to fifth position after a poor second round. His one-over par 73 after having scored two-under par 70 on the opening day puts him five strokes off the pace.
Former Pakistan’s top golfer Imdad Hussain made a tremendous recovery when he registe red an eagle to finish with a card of two-under par 70. Still he has plenty to catch up with the leaders after his unhappy first round score of four-over par 76.
Other professionals in the top ten club after the first two rounds were Shahid Haleem, Javed Inayat, Irfan Mahmood and Mohammad Akram.
In the amateur category Vaqas Ahmed and Shahid Javed Khan were tied at first place after both finished with similar scores of one-under par 71 in the first round. But Irfan Rashid leads the field in net category with a score of 65, six points clear of Altaf Khattak.
Leading scores after second round:
Amjad Yousuf 70, 68 - 138; Muhammad Tariq 71, 69 - 140; Matloob Ahmed 69, 72 - 141; Abdul Jabbar 75, 69 - 142; Shabbir Iqbal 70, 73 - 143; Shahid Haleem 75, 69 - 144; Javed Inayat 72, 72 - 144; Irfan Mehmood 69, 75 - 144; Muhammad Akram 74, 71 - 145; Imdad Hussain 76, 70 - 146; Saleem Inayat 73, 73 - 146; Ijaz Gul 75, 72 - 147.—PPI