LAHORE – Shahid Abbas, a ten handicapper, played exceptionally good golf at the par 72 Royal Palm Golf Course and propelled himself to the front, at the end of the first round of the Royal Palm Annual Golf Championship on Saturday. He left behind some very strong contenders like Amir Mehmood, Mohsin Zafar Sardar Murad, Shoaib Bokhari and even Azfar Hassan. This performance by Shahid Abbas deserves all the admiration as he applied his text book style skills.
During the course of his tee shots, noticeable was his rhythm and application of the much practised golf swing. Just once during the 18 holes did he stray off the fairways on hole number eight but there too he recovered and ended up with a birdie by virtue of an excellent chip from 40 yards. During the first round, Shahid scored two birdies, 12 regulation pars and four bogies. With the adverse effect of bogies partially neutralised by the two birdies, his 18 holes score of 74 lifted him to the top of the honors board.
In the final round today, Shahid will be up against the experience and skills of Amir Mehmood, recently appointed Captain of Gymkhana Golf Club, who is placed five strokes behind the leader at 79, and another player who appears determined to challenge Shahid’s ascendancy is Mohsin Zafar, who although handicapped by a five stroke deficit, similar to the one faced by Amir. Mohsin looks optimistic about upsetting the first day’s leader. As per rules of the tournament the three will be paired together in a three ball fight on Sunday.
Some prominent aspirants who have slipped too far behind are Sardar Murad at a score of 81, Hamid Sharif at 82, Asad Agha and Shoaib Bokhari at 83. These golfers of substance can hope to win the second or third slots if they manage to excel in the final round. The net category position is tilting Hamid Sharif’s way although he is merely a stroke ahead of Asad Agha and Naseer Akhter. The last two ended up the first 18 holes with a net score of 71.
