Matloob Ahmed considered as one of the top professional golfer of the country, now contesting in the three rounds 2nd Sayid Paper Open Golf Tournament at the Defence Raya Golf Course, made his mark in the first round of this three rounds championship by returning an under par round of 71 and finding a slot at the top of the leaderboard, an honor he shares with M. Asif of Defence Raya Golf Club who also gets noticed as the front runner because of his one under par, 71 round. In the first round Matloob may not have looked spectacular but his steady play yielded dividends and earned him a postion ahead of 89 other competitors, his two birdies and 15 pars giving his card a decent look. Only Asif matched him score wise and though Asif was brilliant in patches as reflected by his birdies on five holes and pars on 10 holes, he was left distraught by a double bogie on the second hole and bogies on holes 13 and 15.
Amongst the other contenders Shafiq Masih again surfaced in a respectable 2nd position, just one stroke behind the leaders. He manged to balance his first round score of 72 through three birdies, three bogies and twelve pars. The swing was smooth and soft and his hitting was a pleasure to watch. It was on the greens that he missed at least three birdie putts which would have elevated him on the leaderboard had the ball not stayed at the edge of the hole.
Some of the other contenders who deserve a mention are Ashir Hanif and Asgher Ali who finished the first round with a score of 74 and are bracketed together. At a score of 75 are Aurangzaib Khan and Naseer Khan and three competitors Latif Masih, Mehroze Ilyas and Sunny John are at 76. And at 78 are Shahid Javed, Aadil Jehangir and Talat. Asif of Defence Raya is determined to be a little more purposeful in the second round and equally charged up are Shafiq Masih, Aadil and Shahid Javed. They are due to leave for the MENA tour in UAE in a couple of days and consider it important to go there based on a great show in their hometown. Earlier in the morning Faisal Sayid of Sayid Paper inaugrated the championship.
