Hamza Amin becomes first Pakistani golfer to play Australian Open

Despite not making it to the leader-board, a significant milestone was achieved by a Pakistani when Hamza Amin became the first from the cricket-mad nation to play in the Australian Open last week.

The current 1711-ranked player in the world has been helping drive golf’s steadily increasing popularity in Pakistan, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Amin was also the first Pakistani to win a One Asia Tour card earlier this year.

“There’s a big following and it would be nice to perform,” Amin said.

“People are more interested now in going to Q-School (annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours). Hockey is not that popular, but cricket has all the money, all the emphasis, all the media and then all the news. Everyone loves cricket.”

Due to lack of government funding and support of the sport altogether, Amin had to engineer his own fund-raising webpage last year, when granted One Asia Tour status, to help cover expenses for the mega event.

He managed to raise a little more than $1500 with donations besides a lot of of thank you notes from a personal email response to digital lessons, guest passes, private rounds and branding on Amin's apparel.

Amin, who was coached by his dad Taimoor until he was a teenager, recovered from a deflating 13-over in treacherous conditions on Thursday to post a very respectable two-over 73 – the same score recorded by Adam Scott – on Friday, said the report.

“It’s the first time I’ve played in Australia and it was a bit difficult in those winds with an afternoon tee time [on Thursday],” Amin said.

“We don’t get those conditions back home. I made three birdies in a row [on Friday] so there was a good little run.”