At the end of the first round of the three rounds 54 holes 1st Sayid Paper Open Golf Tournament, Shafiq Masih of Lahore Gymkhana was the best amongst the upcoming professional golfers, was on top of his game as well as the challenge loaded Defence Raya Golf Course.
Teeing off from hole number 8, by virtue of the shot gun start, Shafiq let go his cylinders and focused on some really accurate hitting on all the par 4’s and 5’s and except a let up on one hole, which he double bogied, there was never a dull moment for him on the other 17 holes.
Excellent play fetched him birdies on holes 11, 12 and 13 in succession and the overall score of three under par 69 earned him a place on top of the leaderboard, a place, perhaps desired and sought by all the 75 competitors but captured by the brilliant one. Shafiq’s closest rivals are M. Asif (Garrison), Tahir Nasim (Gymkhana), Kamran Shafiq also from Gymkhana and Talib Hussain (CDA). All four went through a steady hitting spell, never faltering on their long tee shots and embracing accuracy in their approach shots to the greens. M. Asif carded a 2 under par 70, Tahir and Kamran 71 and Talib ended up with a level par score. Looking at the scores of his nearest rivals Shafiq stated that he was not worried about the threat from these four and nor from tempting fate. In fact he felt good, he was playing well and looking forward to the remaining two rounds.
Fakhar Imam of Defence Raya complimented Shafiq on his performance and was glad that the golf course conditions were liked by all the participants and graded the place as a perfect one to keep up their game in competitive trim.
The disappointments of the occasion were Shabbir Iqbal and Matloob Ahmed who simply could not charge up.
Although not too far away from the leader they regret their bogies caused by errant hitting but hope to recover over the next two rounds through more devotion and classy play. Other contenders are Imran Raya at a score of 73, Aadil Jehangir at 74, M.Saeed, Asgher Ali and Shahid Javed Khan, all bracketed at 74. As for Talat Ijaz demonstrated powerful hitting on the par 5, 600 yards 18th hole where he reached the green in two shots, first a one wood followed by a three wood from the fairway. Both these shots can be labelled as the best of the day.
