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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.●
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