Golfer Baloch bags title and Rs461,100

Finishes with overall score of nine-under-par 207 to pip Nazir, Naqas to crown

KARACHI: Waheed Baloch of the Karachi Golf Club struck a final-day one-under-par 71 to clinch the title of the Rashid D Habib National Professional Golf Championship at the Karachi Golf Club on Sunday.

Baloch impressed from the first day and led the rankings by finishing four-under-par after the first round and followed that up by a one-under-par after the second to add to his final-round total of 68 and finish nine-under-par 207 to bag a prize money of Rs461,100.



“I was lucky from the first day that I was able to hit with such accuracy,” Baloch told The Express Tribune. “Other golfers also played well but I was a bit luckier. The three days had a lot of wind but I’m glad to have come out on top.”

Islamabad’s Muhammad Nazir finished a stroke behind Baloch with an eight-under-par 208 to finish second and bag Rs310,200, while Muhammad Naqas finished third with his seven-under-par 209 to win Rs192,900.

Islamabad’s Shabbir Iqbal, who is also Pakistan’s number two golfer, could not defend his title as he was never able to recover from his first-day score of six-over-par 78.  He tried to get back in the game by finishing with leading scores of four-under-par on the second and third day but finished sixth with a score of three-under-par 213.

“I was totally lost in the first round; it couldn’t be any worse,” Iqbal told The Express Tribune. “Baloch played really well and managed to maintain his performance.”

Meanwhile, in the senior professional category, Imdad Hussain of Lahore won with a par-score of 144, while Muhammad Akram (three-over-par) and Muhammad Manzoor (five-over-par) finished second and third respectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2016.

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