KARACHI: Karachi’s trio of Waseem Rana, Saim Shazli and Zohaib Asif were leading the pack on the penultimate day of the 56th National Amateur Golf Championship of Pakistan here at the picturesque DACGC course on Saturday.
With the hopes of top title contenders from the upcountry uprooted by the Arabian Sea winds, the seasoned Rana took a commanding four-shot lead in the prestigious championship.
The steady approach of Rana paid off on the windswept DACGC course as he carded a par 72 round on Day Three to cement his place on top of the leader-board. He was already leading with scores of 70 and 73 in the first two rounds and was once again in his element as he exploited familiar conditions on his home course to consolidate his chances of becoming the national championship. Rana’s three-day aggregate is 215.
Four shots off the pace is 20-year-old Saim Shazli (219) who followed his second day 66 with 73 to tie title contender Zohaib Asif (219) for the second place on the leader-board.
Zohaib played his best round of the championship when he carded one-under 71 to keep his hopes of winning the title alive.
Trailing him was Ghazanfar Mehmood (220) who carded 74. He was trailed by Ashiq Hussain (222) and Robin Bagh (223). Peshawar’s Taimoor Khan (224) played the best round of the day when he fired two-under 70 to take the sixth spot on the leader-board. But it could turn out to be a case of too little too late for the talented Taimoor, who is trailing leader Waseem Rana by nine shots.
Sindh’s main team won the Inter-provincial trophy beating defending champions Punjab by a whopping 35 strokes. Sindh’s quartet of Zohaib Asif, Waseem Rana, Mansoor Teli and Saim Shazli aggregated 216 in the third round for a combined aggregate of 647 which was way ahead of Punjab’s grand total of 682.
The four-day championship run by the Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF), Sindh Golf Association (SGA) and DACGC, will conclude on Sunday (today).