The Early Birds Team Golf Tournament endorsed by Shoukat Hussain was contested at the par-72 Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course over four days on match play format.
This competition was contested among 16 teams, Greens and Whites comprising two amateur golfers in each team, produced competitive golf and an extremely fighting contest, with Greens ending in the forefront piling up 17 points as eight of their teams achieved victory and with two points for each win aggregated 16 points, while one pair ended up level and contributed one point; the whites could accumulate just15 points, and had to concede the glittering trophy to Greens. The Early Bird Golfers comprise an interesting mix with many corporate leaders a part of their golfing category and then there are professionals like barristers, surgeons, physicians, dentists, Army stalwarts and finance wizards and they play their golf with a raging passion not letting professional pursuits get in the way by getting to the golf course every day, at the break of dawn.
And when competitions take place noticeable is some very methodical play with consistency as the hall mark. Amongst them are some accomplished golfers like Mehboob Alam, Hamayun Iqbal, Dr. Haroon Ehsan, Dr. Waqar Farooqi and Mehmood A. Sheikh and then there is the massive Hashim Sabir Raja who can really whack the ball and not to forget the aggressive Zia Hyder Naqi and gritty Mian Tariq Pervaiz.
As for the competition itself, the winning pairs for Greens were Noor ul Amin and Dr. Shahid Qayum, Aslam Mughal and Jamshed Hanif, Naseer A. Sheikh and Nadeem Ismail, Mehmood A. Sheikh and Dr Sh. Ameer Ali, Dr. Haroon Ehsan and Nasir Irshad, Hashim Sabir Raja and Khalid Pervez, Imran Farooq and Javed Majeed, Hamayun Iqbal and Mehboob Alam; Dr Fateh Khan Akhter and Mian Ahad Mehmood levelled their match against their opponents Mian Khalid Rasheed and Shafiq A. Siddiqi.
The pairs who performed well for Whites are Mirza M. Shauq and Khalid Trimzi, Qaiser Shafique and Dr. M. Khalid, Saqib Ali and Pervaiz Hanif, Mian Ahmed Hussain and Shahid Ikram, Dr Abdul Hameed and Iftikhar Randhawa, Dr. Ihsanullah and DR. Kh. Sadiq Hussain and Ilyas M. Chaudry and Col. Shamsuddin Goraya.
Although losing did bring in a touch of agony but the brave ones stated that they look forward to the next major competition with ample determination to wipe out this torment and win back the trophy.
At the conclusion of this team championship, the prizes were awarded to the winners by Shaukat Hussain and Shafiq A.Siddiqi.
