KARACHI:,,, Ahmed Baig of PAF Skyview Golf Club continue to lead on the second day too in in the 47th Pakistan Open Golf Championship, endorsed and supported by Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF) and underway at the historic Rawalpindi Golf Course in Rawalpindi, which was established in 1885.
At the conclusion of the second round on Friday, the adolescent Ahmed Baig continued to show his great golf playing capabilities through shot control and mastery on the greens and looks set to dominate the flow of the championship through an assertive performance.
At the start of the 18 holes on Friday, Ahmed Baig started as a leader. His drives off the tee were forceful backed by errorless approach shots. These attributes fetched him six birdies and though he encountered a double bogey too plus three bogies his score for the second round was gross 70 and that added to the first day’s score of 70 gives him an aggregate of 140, four under par for two rounds. His advantage over his nearest adversary is two strokes.
Two strokes behind the leader is another youngster from Peshawar, Taimoor Khan. Taimoor Khan brought in the best round of the day, with a gross 69, three under par giving him a two days aggregate of 142, two under par.
Out of the other contenders, Shabbir Iqbal is placed third with two rounds aggregate of 143, one under par and he is three strokes behind the table leader, Ahmed Baig.
Competition wise, that is not much of an advantage for the leader and it means an intense fight over the next two rounds and it will be youth versus experience.
More contenders in line for good positions are M. Ashfaq of Airmen Golf Club at a score of 144, followed by M. Nazir and Sajjad Khan of Islamabad at 145. A very talented amateur, Muhammed Umer Khokhar of Rawalpindi Golf Club lies seventh at a score of 146 which represents a big accomplishment for him.
Also, at the score of 146 is Arif Ali of PTV. At 147 is Zubair Husain of PAF and at 148 lie Muhammed Munir of Rawalpindi Golf Club and Akber Mehroze of Gymkhana.
The cut was placed at the end of two rounds and based on scores only 52 made the cut. It included 49 professionals and only three amateurs, Muhammed Umer Khokher, Salman Jehangir and Ralfe’e Raja, popularly known as Tipu.
In the race for honors in Junior Professional Category, the outstanding one turned out to be nineteen years old Abdul Wadood of Multan. Coming from a humble family, he has devoted his time and energy to gloss up his golf game. Lucky for him that he has been lent support by the PGF and an industrialist from Multan, Mian Kaiser Shabbir.
His score for the day was a gross 69 which makes him a leader in the Junior Professional category. At a score of gross 72 are placed three participants, Akash of Lahore Garrison, Faizan Ali also of Lahore Garrison and Ishfaq Ahmed of Multan.