Shahid A Khan of Lahore Gymkhana played some smart golf in the 1st Ashraf Sugar Golf Tournament held at the par 72 Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course to claim the title and emerge as the star of the tournament. He, by overcoming the challenge put up by 73 competing golfers, sizzled on the day.
The heartening achievement for him was that he moved into reckoning with players like Amir Mehmood, Wazir Ali, Mohsen Anwar, Imran Ahmed, Shoaib Bokhari and Khawaja Imran Zubair constantly breathing down his neck. Despite his outstanding performance, Shahid was cool about his forceful outing and said, “You have to hit some great tee shots not just off the tee but also approach shots to card a round of one under par 71. Anyways it was great fun to play on this course which was in such good shape”.
Certainly, Shahid showed mental resilience to finish with a birdie on the par-5, 16th and pars on holes 17th and 18th. Another youngster who played hot golf during this event was Wazir Ali, now a US trained golf player with coaching readily available to him during his stay at the university there, and now during this competition, visible were attributes like temperament, planning and good application of golf skills.
Ali played superbly for most part of the 18 holes but received a set back on the par-5, 16th which he triple bogied; otherwise it was fantastic stuff, either birdies or regulation pars and it was the miserable hiccup on the 16th hole which curbed his headway to the top slot. Some of the pre tournament favorites who got hit by putting jitters were Sardar Murad, Mohsin Zafar and even the experienced Shafiq Bhatti and had to be content with prizes other than the first.
In the handicap categories 7 to 12 and 13 to 18, upcoming players who grappled well with the competition toughness were Muhammed Leghari (winner gross), Dr Haider Malhi (first net) and in category 13-18 the front runners were Ibrahim Qureshi (winner gross) and Dr Mohsin Anwer (first net). Amongst the ladies, talent oriented teenager Kara Alam continues to impress with her hitting and good work around the greens.
The Championship was followed by a grand prize distribution ceremony where Chaudry Muhammed Zaka Ashraf, Chairman, Ashraf Group of Companies and President ZTBL, was personally present to honor the top performers and award prizes. He also committed to make this a regular event.
Results:
Ladies, 1st gross, Kashfa Zafar, 2nd gross Mrs Naureen Malik, 3rd gross Mrs Sameea Javaid Ali;Ladies net;1st net, Kara Alam, 2nd net, Asma Shami, 3rd net, Mrs Rahina Ehtisham;Veterans, 1st gross, Javed Hameed, 2nd gross, Abdul Sattar Khan, 3rd gross, Col(r) Shamsuddin Goraya;1st net, Air Cmdre(r) ZI. Ahmed, 2nd net, Col (r) Masood Akhter, 3rd net, Javed A. Zia; Seniors, 1st gross, Omer Farooq, 2nd gross, Karamatullah Chaudry, 3rd gross, Rai Azizullah;1st net Ch. Muhammed Akhter, 2nd net, Javed A. Shah, 3rd net A. Wajid Sethi.
Amateurs handicap 13-18; 1st gross, Ibrahim Qureshi, 2nd gross, Saifullah Chaudry, 3rd gross, Ahsan Saeed Mian;1st net, Dr. Mohsin Anwer, 2nd net, Rana Ahmed Noon, 3rd net, Rehman Saleem; Handicap category 7-12;1st gross, Muhammed Leghari, 2nd gross, Dr. Zahid A. Khan, 3rd gross, Khurshid Aziz;1st net, Dr. Haider Malhi, 2nd net, Jamal Nasir, 3rd net, Asad Niaz;Handicap 0-6; 1st gross, Shahid A. Khan, 2nd gross, Sardar Murad Khan, 3rd gross, Mohsen Zafar;1st net Wazir Ali, 2nd net, Mohsin Anwar, 3rd net, Shafiq Bhatti.
