Javed, Shafiq joint leaders in Garrison Golf in Lahore
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

LAHORE: The Garrison Open Golf Championship finally got off to a start on Tuesday after the first round was lost to a rather heavy down pour which affected the playing conditions at the golf course.

And hats off to the team of green keepers who put in a Herculean effort to dry up the fairways and remove water from the bunkers. When the play started in the morning, the course gave a fine look and was ready for the major event.

This also made the sponsors, Warid Telecom, extremely pleased because they were interested to see the championship dubbed as ‘battle of golfing champions.’

At the end of the first completed 18 holes, at least 13 of the 84 professionals came up with reasonably good scores and the shot making was excellent and so was the contest.

Javed Inayat of HBL carded 70 and so did Shafiq Masih of Gymkhana. Shafiq is continuing his winning stance and he played the round with considerable ease and fluency. He had 16 regulation pars and two birdies.

A single stroke behind the leaders are two more formidable players - Tariq of PTCL and Sajid of PTV. It is certainly pleasing to see the performance of Sajid who appears in fairly good shape.

Merely one more stroke away are nine very strong contenders and they are Mehmood Kayani (PTV), Shahid Haleem (Gym), Arshad Ali (Gym), Akhtar Ali, Asghar Ali (Police), Imdad Hussain (GAR), M Akram (GAR), Talib Hussain (ISD) and M Munir (PTCL) and they all have the ability to upset the going on the final day.

In the amateur event, Shafiq Bhatti of Gymkhana leads with a score of gross 75, followed by Col. Asif Mehdi 76, and Zulfiqar Ali, Fakhar Imam tied at 77. The net leader is Col. Munir followed by Tashfine and Col. Ikram of Sialkot.●