Zaman Memorial Open Golf tees off today

LAHORE: J A Zaman Memorial Open Golf Championship will tee off from March 8 to 11 here at Lahore Gymkhana Golf Club course.

Giving details of the event in a press conference held at Lahore Gymkhana Golf Club, Shaukat Javed, Convener Golf, stated that this Open Golf Championship is given total support by the Zaman family who ensures that this championship is held in a way that J. A. Zaman, an icon of excellence would have liked.

The briefing was also attended by Hamid Zaman, head of the Zaman family, Tariq Zaman, the younger son, Khawaja Pervaiz Saeed, Director Media and Col (r) Tahir Khan, Manager Golf.

Shaukat further said that all the ingredients of the championship are remarkable, the players the golf course, the arrangements and of course the quality of competition.

Hamid Zaman stated that the foremost positive aspect of the J A Zaman Open Golf Championship is that the top golf professionals of the country are eligible to participate.

Khawaja Pervaiz Saeed highlighted that for the professional golf players of Pakistan, ample are the cash prizes for the top performers, besides non cash awards for the participating amateurs. The prize money is Rs 1.7 million which is Rs 200,000 more than the previous year to be distributed amongst thirty five top position holders. And another attraction is a CAR for a hole in one.

He further said that there is also an event for the Junior Professionals. Age eligibility for Junior Professionals is 23 years and the prize money is Rs 150,000.As for Senior Professionals the age criteria is 50 years and above. Most of the senior professionals taking part in this championship are players who have performed at the National level during their youthful days. Prize Money allocated for them is Rs 200,000.

Total professionals taking part in this championship are 100. Amateurs taking part are 58 and eligibility criteria for them is handicap nine and below. Khawaja Pervaiz stated that the top ranked golf professionals taking part in this competition in their order of ranking are Shabbir Iqbal (Islamabad), Matloob Ahmed (Islamabad), M. Munir (Islamabad),Shahid Javed Khan (Gymkhana), Waheed Baloch (Karachi), Shafiq Masih (Gymkhana), Hamza Amin (Islamabad), M. Ashfaq (Airmen Golf Club Karachi), Talib Hussain (Islamabad) and M. Asif (Raya).

Notable amongst the amateurs participating in this championship are Ahmed Baig (Garrison), Mohammad Rehman (Royal Palm) Ghazanfar Mehmood (Garden City) Wazir Ali(Gymkhana), Zunair Aleem Khan (Gymkhana), Salman Jehangir (Gymkhana), Imran Ahmed (Gymkhana) Saqib Tufail (Garrison), Ahsan Khawaja (Gymkhana), Mohsen Zafar (Gymkhana), Ahmed Zafar Hayat (Gymkhana), Sardar Murad Khan (Gymkhana), Col. Rustam Chatta (Garrison), Khalid Mehmood (Rawalpindi) and Raja M. Israr (Garden City). The main trophy is on gross score and the defending champion is Shabbir Iqbal.