KARACHI, Aug 2: Shabbir Iqbal continued to toy with his rivals when he fired a second successive six-under 66 to grab a four-shot lead at the halfway stage of the 4th Sindh Cup at the Arabian Sea Country Club Friday.
Shabbir, who last week won the CNS championship by one stroke at the Karachi Golf Course, continued to sizzle with his drives and putts to find seven birdies, including five on the back-nine.
His only blemish was on the 150-yard par-three 13th on which he conceded a stroke on an otherwise flawless round.
He led his closest rivals Mohammad Munir and Mohammad Tahir by four strokes. Munir shot a four-under 68 while Tahir had a round of six-under 66 for eight-under 136 for the tournament.
Abbas was in sole possession of fourth place at seven-under 137 after a second round of five-under 67 while Mohammad Tariq was another stroke behind at six-under 138 after playing the lowest round of seven-under 65 for the day.
Tariq’s bogey-free round included birdies on the par-three fifth, par-four eighth, par-four 10th, par-five 14th, par-four 15th and eagle on 500-yard par-five seventh.
In the amateurs, Vaqas Ahmad and Shahid Javed Khan shared the lead at one-under 143.
Vaqas, the overnight leader, had a second round of two-over 74 while Shahid played a round of even-par. Vaqas had three birdies and five bogeys while Shahid carded five birdies but conceded strokes three holes, including a double bogey at 13th.
Scores after second round:
132 - Shabbir Iqbal 66 66
136 - Mohammad Munir 68 68; Mohammad Tahir 70 66
137 - Abbas Ali 70 67
138 - Mohammad Tariq 73 65
139 - Sajjad Khan 67 72; Waheed Baloch 69 70
140 - Akhtar Ali 69 71
141 - Ansar Mahmood 71 70
142 - Talib Hussain 68 74; Abdul Jabbar 70 72; Ahmed Saeed 72 70; Mohammad Javed 74 68; Taj Nabi 75 67
143 - Mohammad Saddiq 71 72; Mohammad Zubair 76 67; Karam Hussain 69 74; Nazir Khan 71 72; Mohammad Akram 73 70; Mohammad Sajid 73 70
144 - Mohammad Irfan 71 73; Ghani Khan 72 72; Afzal Mohsin 73 71; Ghulam Baloch 73 71
145 - Imdad Hussain 70 75; Pervez Akhtar 70 75; Pervez Akhtar 70 75; Noor Din 72 73; Noor Buksh 73 72; Javed Inayat 74 71; Younus Afridi 75 70
146 - Shafiq Masih 70 76; Ghazanfar Mehmood 73 73