KARACHI: Karachi’s Dilshad Ali seemed out of contention for the title in the 25th Sindh Open Golf Championship after carding a seemingly disastrous score of three-over-par 75 in the second round on Saturday.
But a stunning round of four-under-par 68 on Sunday together with below-par showing from some of the other leading title contenders especially overnight leader Muhammad Munir allowed Dilshad to win one of the biggest titles of his career.
But there was plenty of drama before Dilshad managed to get his hands on the Sindh Open Trophy. First he came back from behind to share the top spot on the leaderboard with fellow Karachi Golf Club (KGC) pro and close friend Muhammad Zubair at a 54-hole aggregate of 213 (-3). In the playoff, Dilshad made a par on hole 10 while Zubair’s par putt lipped out allowing the former to win the coveted title and lion’s share from the Rs3.5 million prize purse. Earlier, the seasoned Munir had a disastrous 79 in the final round to slip to 15th position. Ahmed Saeed finished third followed by the duo of Hamza Amin and Ahmed Saeed at join fourth place.
In the amateurs category, Omar Khalid Hussain followed scores of 76 and 73 with a final round card of 74 to win the gross title by one stroke. His three-day aggregate was 223. Lahore’s Raja Israr finished as the runner-up at 224. Hyderabad’s Khalid Hussain finished third. In the amateurs net category, Haider Bilal won the title while his father Bilal Naseem finished as runner-up.
In the seniors category, Maj Irfan won the title while Nadeem Iftikhar was the runner-up. In the seniors net category Aqib Malik won ahead of Ayub Khan.