Afzal takes narrow lead as CAS Open Golf begins

KARACHI: Hyderabad’s Muhammad Afzal (SRC) took a slim one-shot lead as the 34th CAS Open Golf championship 2015 began with a bang here at the Airmen Golf Course and Recreational Park on Wednesday.
Afzal, regarded among the seasoned pros on the national golf circuit, carded an impressive 68 in the first round of the four-day championship to take the pole position on the leader-board.
Just one shot off the pace were the duo of PAF’s Ashfaq and Pakistan No. 1 Shabbir Iqbal. Both of them returned with identical scores of 69.
Aadil Jehangir, Matloob Ahmed and Muhammad Asif are jointly on third position with 1-Under Par at the end of first day of championship.
Earlier, Air Vice Marshal Azhar Hasan Rizvi, Air Officer Commanding Southern Air Command, PAF inaugurated the Championship with first tee off.
A total of around 300 golfers are participating including 109 professionals from all over the country for a prize basket of Rs3.2 Million. Another salient feature is a brand new Honda City and Suzuki Swift car which will be on offer for the players who score Hole-in-One.
Subsidiary matches in the category of Senior Professionals, Amateurs, AGC Members, Ladies, Veterans and invitees will also be played during the four-day championship.
Under difficult windy conditions at Airmen Golf course, senior professional Abdul Ghaffar and Akber Ali managed to be on top spot with the gross score of one-over Par (73), followed by Muhammad Iqbal with gross (74), on gross third Raja Iftikhar is intricately chasing the leader with three-over par 75.
The Chief of the Air Staff Open Golf Championship was introduced in 1977 and ever since it has been an annual feature in PGF and PAF annual sports calendars.