LAHORE, Feb 20 (APP):Country’s top notch golfers will be seen in action in the J.A.Zaman Memorial Open Golf Championship which swings into action here tomorrow, Thursday at Lahore Gymkhana course.
This was stated by Shaukat Javed ,Convenor Golf at a press conference at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Club ,attended and addressed by Hamid Zaman,Head of J.A.Zaman Family,Omer Zia,Captain Golf and Khawaja Pervaiz Saeed,Director Media here on Wednesday.
Spelling out details of the Championship , Shaukat Javed stated
that what makes this tournament truly exceptional is that it has no corporate sponsor and it is entirely a family effort given to
ensure that this annual event is held in a way that J. A. Zaman,
an icon of excellence would have liked.
Shaukat Javed added that, for the tournament’s 6th edition,
the prize money on offer is a mouth-watering Rs. 3 million. In
addition, golfers will also have a chance to win a luxury car
with a hole-in-one.
Hamid Zaman stated that it was necessary to highlight and share
that during his lifetime J. A. Zaman was regarded as a supporter of
sports activity and he was associated with golf at Lahore Gymkhana
for over 50 years.
“His children are ably carrying on this aspect of his legacy
as well as just last year the charitable Zaman Foundation allocated
a special fund for the health and education of the caddies and ball
boys,” he said.
Hamid Zaman also highlighted that the final round will take place
on Sunday, 24th February and at the conclusion of the championship,
the prize distribution will be held at Golf Course Lawns at 0430 pm.
The Family of Mr J. A. Zaman will be hosts at the prize distribution ceremony.
Omer Zia highlighted that the foremost positive aspect of the
event is that the top golf professionals of the country are eligible
to participate. As a result they get an opportunity to perform well
and add to their earnings and for most of these golf professionals
it is a question of basic livelihood also.
There is also an event for the Junior Professionals. Age eligibility for Junior Professionals is 21 years and the prize money is Rs 225,000.
As for Senior Professionals the age criteria is 50 years and above. Prize Money allocated for them is Rs 350,000.
Khawaja Pervaiz Saeed said that Prominent professionals in order
of their national ranking are Shabbir Iqbal (Islamabad), 2. Matloob
Ahmad (Islamabad), 3. Muhammad Munir (Islamabad), 4. Shahid Javed Khan (Gymkhana), 5. Waheed Baloch (Karachi), 6. Shafiq Masih (Gymkhana), 7. Hamza Amin (Islamabad), 8. Muhammad Ashfaq (Airmen Golf Club, Karachi),
9. Talib Hussain (Islamabad), 10. Muhammad Asif (Raya).
Notable amongst the amateurs participating in this championship are Ghazanfar Mahmood (Garden City), Raja M. Israr (Garden City), Khalid Mahmood (Rawalpindi) Moin Tariq (PAF Base Rafiqui), Hussain Hamid
(Royal Palm) Fakhar Imam(Defence Raya)
The prominent amateurs are ,Muhammad Saqib (Garrison), Damil Atta Ullah (Garrison), Col. Rustam Chatha (Garrison)
Ahsan Khawaja (Gymkhana), Qasim Ali Khan (Gymkhana), Imran Ahmed (Gymkhana), Morad A. Khan (Gymkhana), Salman Jehangir (Gymkhana), Mohsen Zafar (Gymkhana),
“Interestingly ,Shabbir Iqbal has the honor of winning this title
four times, only Matloob Ahmad won it in 2015,” he said.
Regarding the golf course ,Omer Zia stated that his eighteen holes,
par 72 layout will be the playing arena for the competition which has following significant features:-
Excellent tees, immaculate fairways and true and fast greens,
55 bunkers, 6 water hazards and out of bounds on 8 holes .