President Golf Championship included in WAGR tournaments

ISLAMABAD, Oct 22 (APP): The President of Pakistan Gold Medal
Golf Championship has been included in the World Amateur Golf Ranking
(WAGR) Tournaments and this year for the first time it will be played from
October 26 here at the Islamabad Golf Club (IGC) as a WAGR competition.
Serena Hotels in collaboration with Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF)
and IGC is hosting the Golf Championship. This is the second time Serena
Hotels is sponsoring the three-day tournament which carries a cash prize
of Rs 1.6 million At a press conference held here at Serena Hotel on Thursday, Dr Ali Haider, Tournament Director at Islamabad Golf Club lauded the hotels for sponsoring the tournament under the banner of the Sports Diplomacy
Initiative.
He said this tournament is one of the major events of the country
where top golfers from professionals, amateurs (handicap 10 & below) and
ladies categories take part. “The tournament also includes an
event for senior amateurs and subsidiary event for amateur’s
11-18 handicaps on the last day,” he said.
He said due to the efforts of the IGC tournament committee, the said
event has been included in the WAGR tournaments.
Speaking about the defending champions of the previous tournaments,
Ali said Muhammad Munir (Professionals), Tariq Mehmood (Amateurs) and
Mrs Youngmi Han (ladies) are the champions. “Munir has won the event 8
times, Shabir 6 times and Ghulam Nabi 4 times,” he said adding Munir and
Shabir have dominated this event since 1999.
He said a golf course will also be organized next month for the
journalists to educate them about the rules and terms of the game.
Responding to a question, Ali said the PGF must have a golf course of their
own and should start doing efforts for it.
Director Sports Diplomacy, Shehryar Khan said a total of 250 players
are expected to play in the professional category and 80 to 90 players in the amateur category. “As many as 30 players will also play in the amateur
subsidiary category,” he said.
The programme of the championship includes Professional: Stroke
play over 54 holes (18 holes each day) on October 26, 27 & 28; Amateurs:
Stroke play over 54 holes (18 holes each day) on October 26, 27 & 28; Ladies:
Stroke play over 36 holes (18 holes each day) on October 27 & 28; Senior
Professionals: Stroke play over 36 holes (18 holes each day) on October 27 &
28; Junior Professionals: Stroke play over 36 holes (18 holes each day) on
October 27 & 28; Senior Amateurs: Stroke play over 18 holes on October 25
and Amateurs (HCP 11-18): Stroke play over 18 holes on October 25 (only
IGC members).