The star golfers of Pakistan like Shabbir Iqbal (U Fone), Matloob Ahmed (Garrison), Shahid Javed Khan (Royal Palm) and Muhammed Munir (Islamabad) all champions in their own right, have converged to the Defence Raya Golf Course in Lahore, full of confidence and loaded with the intention of tasting victory on this brilliant golf course which certainly measures upto international standards.
And mind you, these champions know how daring it is to meet the challenges that this layout presents. The golfing ability is tested to the full and so is the champions capacity to survive under duress and competitive conditions.
Shabbir, Matloob, Munir and Shahid have many titles in their bag and hence whenever they compete they are considered amongst the hot favourites. There is a long list of other strong and fancied contenders who are eager to reduce these champions to size, but then what actually happens at the end of the three days duel depends on consistent excellence throughout the three rounds, virtually on every shot, be it a long drive or a 50 yards pitch or even a three feet putt. In this regard, at least thirty participating professional golfers are exceedingly outstanding in patches, however a missed putt here and a poor hit on one or two tees leads to their downfall. Ultimately the difference and deficit in scores may be two or three, yet it throws them way down the leaderboard.
Shabbir and Munir who hail from Islamabad, recently enjoyed emphatic victories in Karachi and while Shabbir has been more dominant of the two, both are eager to add another feather in their caps at the Defence Raya Golf Course layout during the three tournament days starting from 18th September to 20th September.
Out of the other seasoned stalwarts, Shahid Javed Khan of Royal Palm has certainly fine tuned his temperament and his performance in the Prime Ministers Open Golf Championship in Rawalpindi last week was outstanding, although he lost to Shabbir in the playoff. His hitting off the tees is awesome and is determined to appear as the front runner in this major championship.
Matloob, a two-time Pakistan number one, looks in great trim and all geared up to accept the challenge that this golf course poses.
“The most important thing is that this is like my home course and my rhythm really picks up when I play here,” said Matloob.
Promising golfers like Aadil Jehangir and Daanyal Jehangir find the rhythm missing in their swings, though Aadils long hitting continues to look remarkable and many of his rivals envy his tee shots hitting ability. An encouraging aspect is that after his practice yesterday he said he was feeling better and more in control.
Another superb one, Shafiq Masih stated “After missing victories in the last three championships, I know that this is an event where i can do well. I just have to feel confident and the urge to win has to be dominant. From the professional golfers point of view, this championship is special and an opportunity to add their earnings.
The Sayyid Paper Open Golf Championship will be declared open by Faisal Sayyid of Sayyid Paper at 9am.