Pakistan C take lead in round one

Asif, Naeem finish collectively at 147 in amateur golf’s team category.

KARACHI:

Pakistan C finished the first round of the 53rd National Amateur Golf Championship as leaders at the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club golf course, Lahore on Thursday.

Zohaib Asif of Karachi and Naeem Khan of Peshawar played exceedingly well to post a collective score of 147 for Pakistan C in the International Team Match, which was contested over 36 holes.

Pakistan B team, which comprises of Salman Jehangir and Taimoor Khan, are just behind team C at 148, while Pakistan A settled for third place, notching 153 scored by Ghazanfar Mehmood and M Rehman.

Mohammed Nazim and Mohammed Sagor of Bangladesh scored a combined 154. Sisira Kumara and P Hemantha of Srilanka scored 158, while Reza Pourhasseini and Ebrahim Noori of Iran scored 176. Afghanistan stalled at the last spot, with Noor Ahmed and Ali Ahmed aggregating a score of 205.

In the race for individual honours, Zulfiqar Ali of Multan displayed sheer brilliance with an opening round of two-under par 70 which fetched him the top spot on the leader-board.

Taimoor Khan with par-score lingers behind Zulfiqar, while Naeem Khan is placed third with one-over.

Meanwhile, Zohaib Asif, Omer Salamat, Mubariz Ahmed claimed fourth spot with two-over. Ali Hai, the former national champion, alongside Ashiq Hussain and Tariq Mehmood scored a three-over`.

The Inter Association Championship is led by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with a score of 224, leading over Sindh who have scored 227. Meanwhile, Federal and Punjab stand third with 229 and Baluchistan resides on the last place with 238.

The women’s competition will start today with Ghazala Yasmin, the defending champion, and upcoming female golfers like Nushmia Sukhera, Maryama Khan and Ami Qin featuring in the tournament.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2014.

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