Shabbir takes lead on 2n day of J.A.Zaman memorial golf

LAHORE, Mar 11 (APP) Pakistan’s top notch golfer Muhammad Shabbir of Islamabad Golf Club displayed a mix round of brilliance and poor golf to overtake joint leaders Muhammad Ashfaq and Amjad Yousaf on the second day of the 4th J.A.Zaman Memorial Open golf championship here on Saturday at Lahore Gymkhana club.
Pakistan national champion Shabbir favoured by lady luck made grand recovery for his erratic hitting to get the top slot to the much disappointment of Karachis duo of Ashfaq and Amjad who were the opening round joint leaders.
Shabbir suffered a set back at the 18th hole as his tee shot was mistimed forcing his ball into the jungle and then he had to be content with a modest shot back to the fairway and as luck would have it his approach shot to the green was again not good enough and landed in the water hazard.
All this combination of poor timing resulted in a loss of three strokes but the earlier brilliance over the 17 holes saved the day for him and his second round score of gross 69 ,three under par gives him an aggregate of 137,seven under par and took over the leader board position from Ashfaq and Amjad.
As for Amjad Yousaf of Karachi Golf Club ,he remains in the hunt for the title and is placed in an enviable position ,just one stroke behind the leader .His score for the two rounds is 67 and 71 and aggregate score for two rounds is 138 and to add to the sharpness and intensity of the competition ,another participant from Islamabad ,Muhammed Waqas is also placed at 138 ,six under par.
Till now ,besides Shabbir ,Amjad and Waqas have come up with accomplished performances and though Shabbir has the habit of winning ,his nearest challengers look forward to toppling him in the final round on Sunday.
Out of the other combatants, Jafal Hussain of Gymkhana is placed at a score of 139 along with Mohammad Nazir of Islamabad and three players are at the aggregate score of 140.They are Muhammed Ashfaq,Muhammed Munir and Talib Hussain.The number three ranked player of the country,Matloob Ahmed is at 141 and Moazzam Siddiq is at 142.
In the amateur section Ghazanfar Mehmood leads with scores of 73 and 71 and an aggregate of 144.Saqib Tufail has scores of 73 and 74 with a total aggregate of 147 followed by Mohsen Zafar at 152.
The final session will be contested tomorrow, Sunday and one expects a fierce battle between the top ten professionals .
After the conclusion of the championship the prize distribution will be held at 4:30 pm at the Lahore Gymkhana golf club lawns. The Chief Guest of the evening is Begum J.A.Zaman and the eldest son Hamid Zaman who is the chief organizer of this prestigious tournament.