Shahid Javed Khan of Royal Palm and Aadil Jehangir (Gymkhana) are two of our educated golf professionals currently playing the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Golf circuit. At the end of the first round of the three-day Shaikh Maktoum Dubai Open Golf Championship at the Al Badia Golf Course, Dubai, their names were right amongst the front runners as they demonstrated brilliance which helped them card scores of four under par 68 each and thereby create waves, edging past quite a few established champions from Great Britain, Scotland, UAE, Morroco, Malaysia and Bahrain. Incidentally, the MENA Golf Tour accepts nationals from Middle East and North Africa and international professional golfers. Besides Shahid and Aadil three other Pakistani professional golfers are also competitors in this event, and while Matloob Ahmed and Shafiq Masih are bracketed at the 16th slot with similar one under par scores of 71,Danyaal Jehangir is placed way down with a modest looking round of 78. In a telephonic communication Shahid Javed stated that the Al Badia Golf Club Golf course features abundant water and plants indigenous to the Arabian Gulf and water moves throughout the golf course incorporating 11 lakes and water hazards on 12 holes making life difficult for the nervous golfer.And nerves have to be kept in control on every shot. Aadi Jehangir said, “My game is in good shape and so is my confidence and I do foresee a lot of competition from Peter Richardson, Dale Mormion and Zane Scotland of Great Britain and also looking fearsome are players like Anil Shah and Brian Njoroge”.
