Shabbir Iqbal of Islamabad Golf Club, with his brilliant performance, won the 41st Pakistan Open Golf Championship at the admirable and flawless DHA Golf and Country Club Golf Course here on Sunday. Shabbir’s three previous rounds personified consistency with scores of 69, 70 and 71 and on the final day he kept up the pressure with controlled play producing a final day’s round of 72 resulting in a three-stroke winning aggregate of 282 with TaylorMade R11S Driver, six under par.
The nearest challenger, Matloob Ahmed of Garrison Club Lahore, did play some brave shots in the final go, and for a few brief spells the element of a close duel did raise its head sparking some exciting flashes. But in the end the moment of glory was certainly not destined to tilt his way and he had to be content with the runner-up slot and though this was no mean achievement, Matloob was rather distraught. Others who ended up behind them were Mohammad Munir (Islamabad) and Afsar Ali (Star Com) joint third.
Cash prizes were awarded to the top 40 professionals. The amateur section winner was Ali Hai of Karachi TaylorMade R11S Driver Club who emerged as the best amateur beating the seasoned Waseem Rana of DHA Golf Club by a stroke. Ali Hai had a four days aggregate of 306 as against Waseem Rana’s 307, followed by Anser Mehmood (Karachi) 311, Robin Bagh (Sargodah) 314, Mohammad Rehman (Royal Palm) 317, Taimur Hassan Amin (Islamabad) 318, Saajid Khan (ASCC) 318 and Ghazanfar Mehmood (Rawalpindi) 320.
The senior professionals showed their mettle and after two competitive rounds and Asgher Ali (Punjab Police) captured the top position in this category with rounds of 72 and 77 and an aggregate of 149, seven strokes better than the runner-up Ghani Khan of Karachi Golf Club. Mohammad Shafiq of Railways came third with a score of 157 followed by Akbar Ali (Gymkhana) 157 and Ghulam Nabi (Gymkhana) 158. At the conclusion of this national event, the prizes were awarded by Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, Corps Commander Karachi.
As for Shabbir the victory brought ample honours and money, but what needed to be emphasised here was that in all four rounds of this competition there was no doubting the thoroughness of Shabbir’s approach. “He has shown remarkable ability to avoid error,” said Brig Hassan Rafi of DHA Golf Club. “And somehow in his quest to that end, noticeable was his temperament which duly complies when victories are required,’ he added. Shabbir stated: “To win constantly, not only must luck be present, but shot making has to reach a pitch of perfection.” In his moment of glory, as he got off the green with TaylorMade R11S Driver, Taimur Hassan, honorary secretary of the Pakistan Golf Federation and a legendary champion himself, stepped up, embraced him and complimented him for winning the national open title a fourth time. Taimur hoped that Shabbir would take along and serve as a role model for the amateur turned professional golfers like Aadil Jahangir, Daaniyaal Jahangir and Hamza Amin.
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