DACGC gets ready for I-Day Cup

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top professionals will lock horns for a prize purse of Rs2.3 million in the 7th Independence Day Golf Championship to be held here at the well-manicured course of the Defence Authority Country and Golf Club (DACGC) next month.

Brigadier (retd) Tariq Rafique, Secretary DACGC, told ‘The News’ on Thursday that the course was in an excellent shape for the prestigious championship that will feature most of the top professionals, senior professionals and amateurs of the country.

“We are making best possible arrangements to make sure that the Independence Day Cup is a big success,” said Brig Tariq, himself an avid golfer.

He said that most of the country’s top-ranked players have confirmed their participation in the three-day championship which will be played from August 12-14.

The total prize purse for the championship is Rs2.3 million of which the lion’s share (Rs2 million) will be for the professionals’ event. The purse for senior professionals is Rs200,000 while the junior professionals will be battling it out for a purse of Rs100,000. Other events – amateurs, ladies, seniors, juniors etc – will also be held on the sidelines of the contests for the professionals.

At the last year’s edition, it was the country’s ace golfer Shabbir Iqbal who reigned supreme.

Shabbir didn’t have to play spectacular golf to win the tournament which he eventually did by a sizeable margin of three strokes. In the final round he carded 70 to finish with an aggregate of 207 (-9). It was an easy win for him as Hamza Amin, Shabbir’s chief challenger on the final day, was unable to rise to the occasion and finished with 73 to take the third place behind Muhammad Munir.

More than 300 golfers from all over the country including top national professionals participated in the championship.

In the senior professionals Iftikhar Ahmed with a score of 70 was first and Manzoor Ahmed with a score of 71 was the runner-up. In amateurs (gross) Muhammad Naeem with a score of 220 was first while Zohaib Asif with a score of 223 took the runner-up trophy.

Humera Khalid claimed the Ladies (gross) crown by a massive margin of 13 strokes. Humera carded 81 ahead of runner-up Maha Ahmed (94).

In the Masters (U14) event, Taimur Ali Khan won the gross title ahead of Yashal Shah. Vivek Anand carded a gross score of 80 to win the Juniors’ title, beating Junaid Irfan by one stroke.

Brigadier Islam won the Veterans’ title while Lt Col Zahid Iqbal claimed the Seniors’ title ahead of Sheikh Muhammad Jawed.