Ace national golfer Tariq Mehmood put up awesome performance to shatter the dreams of front runner Ghazanfar to win the title Chief of Naval Staff Amateur Golf Championship at that the majestic Royal Palm Golf Course here on Saturday. The courage of a very experienced Tariq of Pakistan Navy,did wonders for him as he forcefully and gallantly stopped Ghazanfar’s march to victory and through solid play wiped out the overnight deficit of eight strokes and then in a playoff with Ghazanfar he went on to birdie the first playoff hole and stamp his name on the Chief of Naval Staff Trophy.
The chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony at Royal Palm was Admiral Muhammed Asif Sandila,Chief of Naval Staff,Pakistan Navy. While Tariq was composed and in control over the final eighteen holes and in particular the closing three holes,,the overnight leader and dominant one over the past two rounds found his putting touch and feel rebel against him and he was made to look like a novice and a competitor in total disarray. Earlier in the morning Ghazanfar looked radiant and his march on the first hole reflected the walk of a proud winner but then Nature has its own ways of passing the final judgement and as the holes were played apparent was Tariq’s superiority and by the end of the first nine holes the stroke deficit was down from eight to four strokes and on the back nine the slide for Ghazanfar picked up pace and on the last three holes Ghazanfar facilitated his rivals victory march by three putting the last three holes.The die had been cast and on the first playoff holeTariq looked brilliant and in a mood to kill and that is what he did bringing loud cheers from his fans and supporters and in the process capturing the trophy. The first to congratulate him were Col(r)Jameel Khalid and Commodore Akbar Naqi,the Chief Organisers of this event.
The final positions were as follows; Tariq Mehmood (Navy) 74+75+72=221; Ghazanfar Mehmood (Rawalpindi) 69+72+80=221; Mohammed Rehman (Royal Palm) 77+79+70=226; Salman Jehangir (Gymkhana) 81+75+77=233; Imran Ahmed (Gymkhana) 74+80+80=234; Waleed Zubair (Gymkhana) 86+76+75=237; Sajid Khan (Arabian Sea) 85+76+76=237; Col Rustam Chatta (Guj) 82+76+79=237.
In the contest for net honors the top one was Hussain Hamid with a three days net score of 214,Waleed Zubair who ended at 216 was runners up net.Raza Ali Khan came third with a score of 217.The ladies gross winner was Ghazala Yasmin of Gujranwala Golf Club and the Seniors gross winner was Javed Khan of WAPDA. In the invitational category the top performer in gross section was Rear Admiral Khan Hasham Bin Sadiq while Commodore Usman Tariq was the runner up.Net winner was Air Commodore Sohail Ahmed and net runners up was Air Vice Marshal Asad Lodhi.Asad I.A.Khan won the nearest to the pin prize. Commodore Akber Naqi the Station Commander of Pak Navy Lahore confirmed that this will be a regular event and was thankful to sponsors like Millat Tractors,MCB,Orient,Zong and Bata. Later the chief guest gave away the prizes and trophies to the notable winners.
