Punjab golf championship to get under way

LAHORE, Mar 20 (APP):The 37th edition of the Punjab Open Golf Championship will be teed off here on Wednesday at
the elaborate and ideal golf arena of Pakistan, the Defence Raya Golf and Country Club Golf Course.
This was stated by Brig. (Retd) Sikander Hayat, Secretary, Defence Raya at a briefing at the Defence Raya Golf Club. Spelling out other details of the Punjab Open Golf Championship ,Brig
Sikander Hayat highlighted that the championship which is supported and endorsed by Muslim Commercial Bank, Allied Bank, Askari Bank and DHA will be contested over five days.
He further explained that the first two days, are earmarked for ladies, who compete over
36 holes and on March 22 the Senior professionals, over 50 years of age, the junior professionals,
less than 23 years of age and the senior amateurs, over 55 years of age will fight it out for a much sought after place amongst the top performers.
And on Thursday, another happening is that Brig Sajid Khokhar, Administartor, DHA, will hit the opening golf shot early in the morning.
From Friday (March 23) the championship will be taken over by the professional golfers of Pakistan who will become a part of the prestigious encounter for lucrative prize money of two million rupees and their competition will be over three days. Along with the professionals, also there will be the leading amateurs and while professional golfers participate for prize money and financial stakes ,the amateurs only seek honors.
In addition to the prize money of two million rupees for professionals, 0.3 million rupees for senior professionals, 0.2 million rupees for junior professionals, the big attraction is the Honda Br-V for a hole in one offered by Honda. One more hole in one offer is by Turkish Airlines and the hole in one achiever will get a ticket to Europe.
Brig Sikander also made it clear that top 100 professional golfers belonging to almost all golf courses of the country have reached Defence Raya Golf and Country Club, for a shot at the Punjab Open title 2018 and also try and successfully dip into the cash laden purse of two million rupees.
Mohammed Shabbir the top ranked professional of our national golf circuit is a champion whose consistency is almost automatic. He wins tournaments in unruffled fashion and having him as a participant in this Punjab Open is distressing news even for players like M. Munir, Matloob Ahmed,
Shahid Javed Khan and Waheed Baloch.
In this part of the country, although Matloob remains a popular choice of many golf lovers, as his past record is enough to intimidate many hopefuls. In fact just two months back in Karachi , he demonstrated tremendous flair and devastating powers of recovery to emerge as the winner of the title and huge prize money.
For the past two days, Mohammad Munir, an accomplished one of Pakistan Golf , has been practicing at the Defence Raya Golf Course, improving familiarity with the fairways and getting
adjusted to the feel of the greens. Munir says, “It is not preparation that is so important, it is the right preparation.”