LAHORE - Matloob Ahmed of Garrison Golf Club battled through windy conditions during the second round of the 2nd Quaid-e-Azam Open Golf Championship endorsed by Shezan International here at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course on Saturday.
Matloob played a superb round of four under par 68 on the second day the championship and by following a trail of excellence, he managed a two rounds aggregate score of 134, 10 under par and in the process, he relegated M Munir of U-fone to second position.
Matloob and Munir were joint overnight leaders but while Munir slid from the top position by two shots. Matloob became the sole leader going into the final phase of the championship. For two rounds, Matloob has an aggregate score of 134, 10 under par, whereas M Munir is placed at an aggregate score of 136, eight under par, two strokes behind the leader.
In accordance with the rules of the championship, the cut was enforced at the end of the second round and as a result, 44 professional participants were weeded out and as against 85 who took part on the first day only 41 will play on the final day today (Sunday).
After the leaders, the strong contenders in line are Imdad Hussain, Shahid Hanif, Kamran Shafiq and Shabbir Iqbal. Shabbir, the top professional of our country, relented slightly on the first day but in the second round he was in champion like form and visible was excellence in his hitting and the short game was awesome. Shabbir scored an imposing gross 68, in yesterdays round and improved his position from 17th on the first day to 6th at the end of the second day.
The interesting aspect of the second round was that one saw quite a few foreigners amongst the spectators and one of them Uyuni from South Korea who could speak English said: “Your golf professionals are awesome and as a golfer, I would love to be coached by them.”