KARACHI: Fists clenched, arms raised. The victory seemed to bring more relief than joy to Shabbir Iqbal.

Even to those small number of fans who were supporting him.

“Tiger is back,” one of those fans shrieked at the Karachi Golf Club on Sunday as the country’s top golfer hit his final putt, in reference to American golf great Tiger Woods who ended a five-year title drought last week at the Tour Championship.

Shabbir’s dominance of the circuit in Pakistan is such that it’s difficult to even imagine if he would ever suffer from such a title drought. The Woods’ reference only came because of his recent struggles.

Shabbir came into the UMA-CNS Open having relinquished two of his crowns last month. Over the last four days at the KGC, he has proved that it was only a minor blip.

In a tournament which he led from the start — albeit entering the final round with just a stroke’s lead over defending champion, Shabbir finished with a flourish.

An emphatic final-round six-under 66 saw him finish on 16-under 272, six strokes ahead of Ashfaq (71), to clinch the CNS Open for an 11th time.

“Of course this [triumph] is a relief,” Shabbir told Dawn afterwards. “I needed this to boost my confidence and my form heading into the UMA-CNS Asian Tour Open Championship [which begins from Oct 11].”

The CNS Open was the prelude for the Asian Tour event which will see the Tour return to the country for the first time in 11 years.

In the last two Asian Tour events played in the country, the Pakistan Open in 2006 and 2007, Shabbir finished top amongst local golfers, fourth on both occasions.

He admits there’s more work to be done if he is to go better than that.

“I’m still not happy with my putting,” Shabbir said. “Over the next few days I’ll try to work on it and hopefully I’ll be well-tuned for the Asian Tour.”

For Ashfaq, the CNS Open was another reminder of his mercurial talent.

Having got into title contention with a superb third-round show, and with huge support from the spectators who had turned up on Sunday, he just couldn’t make it a contest in the final round in which he was both breathtaking and frustrating with his shots.

“I could’ve done better,” the ever-smiling Ashfaq told Dawn. “In the end, I left myself with too much to do.”

Ashfaq finished five strokes ahead of both Ansar Mehmood (68) and Hamza Amin (73) with Waheed Baloch (72) and Talib Hussain (74) ending a stroke further adrift.

It was a disastrous day for Matloob Ahmed, the man who dethroned Shabbir at both the Sindh Open and the Independence Day Cup. Matloob shot an 81 to finish on 291.

“I need to get back up,” he told Dawn. “I struggled with my tee shots and that’s what I need to work on.”

In the amateurs’ contest, Ashiq Hussain triumphed in the gross category with a four-day aggregate of 292 while Captain Shahid Masood was the net winner with 282.

Asad Khan was the winner of the junior professionals’ contest while the senior professionals’ crown was clinched by Imdad Hussain.

There was no doubt, however, that Shabbir was the man everyone was looking at.

On a sweltering day, Shabbir had increased his lead to three shots on the front nine but a chance for Ashfaq seemed to appear on the 10th hole. Ashfaq managed a par on the hole and after Shabbir bogeyed, the lead was down to two shots.

Any pressure that aberration had put on Shabbir was off almost immediately. A birdie on the next hole restored his lead but the pressure was back again after he found the bunker from his tee on the 12th hole.

Ashfaq could’ve added to that but narrowly missed an eagle there. Shabbir also hit a birdie and from there on in, he was imperious.

Two more birdies followed on the next two holes with Ashfaq’s challenge ending on the 14th when he hit out of bounds.

He did get back with the birdie on the 15th to reduce Shabbir’s lead but the damage had been done and a birdie on the final hole gave Shabbir the finish he wanted. “The perfect finish,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2018