The Pakistan Golf Federation has announced that the golf calendar for 2012 and a significant feature of this annual tournament schedule of competitions is that Royal Palm Golf and Country Club will be holding the National Amateur Golf Championship from April 12 to 15.
A total of 41 golf tournaments are lined up for this year and this includes 21 open events, where lucrative cash prize money is involved and 20 amateur tournaments where eligibility for participation is restricted to amateur golf players only.
The open golf tournaments are a big attraction for the professional players of the country, as such events are their bread and butter, and consistent performances secure their earnings and help them enhance their social standing through excellence on the golf course. Undoubtedly some of our top professionals are now millionaires. It would be appropriate to state here that for the professionals, the course is his place of work, and to produce outstanding spells of victories in open championships, he has to devote 12 hours daily on the course working on his skills, his fitness, his courage and guts and ability to demonstrate a champion’s touch.
Noteworthy open championships include events like Pakistan Open, Sindh Open, Punjab Open, Khyber Pakhtookhwa Open and Bolan Open. These are cash rich tournaments plus title bearing also and are normally held at main golf playing centres in Karachi, Quetta, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar.
Other tournaments that carry an ample purse for winners are Garrison Open, Allama Iqbal Open, CAS Open, Abbottabad Open, Crescent Open, Mangla Open, CNS Open, DHA Karachi Open and COAS Open. All in all the professional circuit of Pakistan is on the increase every year and as Taimur Hassan, Secretary PGF highlighted: “It will be in the range of 18 to 20 million rupees this year.”
A special feature of the 2012 golf calendar is the revival of Swat Open Golf Championship in Swat to be held from June 22 to 24. The Swat Open has remained disrupted due to security fears but this year it would be an event likely to attract golfers from all over Pakistan.
While all 18-hole golf clubs of the country will be holding tournaments of importance, missing from the calendar is the name of Jehlum Golf Club. It has an outstanding course layout and remaining so quiet and without competitive activity is heart burning. It is hoped that Pakistan Golf Federation and Punjab Golf Association will initiate a process to ensure competitive events at this venue also.
