Thai Sarunchana seals 3rd PGF Ladies Golf title

LAHORE: Sarunchana Rattanasin of Thailand was successful in putting up a comprehensive all round display of steady golf play and with three rounds gross scores of 67, 77 and 78 and an aggregate of 222 she emerged as the winner of the 3rd PGF Ladies Amateur Golf Championship, which concluded at the Islamabad Golf Course on Sunday.

For the skilled, adept and battle hardened Sarunchana, this represents a victory of prestige and honor and she has achieved this success by curbing the challenge of some very skilled lady golfers like Tantita from Thailand, Sonia from Bangladesh and Ghazala Yasmin from Pakistan. On the final day her challenger was her country mate Tantita Wong who played forceful golf and tried to edge past Sarunchana, but in the final reckoning the ultimate winner played exceedingly well in the last four holes and remained on the road to final victory. “Winning in Pakistan is a memorable occasion and I just loved the control I showed in the final moments and I certainly feel sorry for my Thai colleague who missed beating me by just one stroke”. All I can say is, “well tried Tantita and thanks Pakistan for a wonderful time”.

Sarunchana takes the title to Thailand with three rounds aggregate gross score of 222 while her mate Tantita Wong ended up in the runners up slot with a score of 223 and Sonia Akhter of Bangla Desh came third in the gross section of the Gold Category with a score of 240.

As regards the performers in the net section of the gold category, Hamna Amjad of Kamra Golf Club, secured the first net prize with three rounds aggregate score of net 12 under par. Runner up net was Zain un Nisa of Royal Palm and Liza Akhter of Bangla Desh was third.

In the race for honors in Silver Category the first gross was won by Naghmana Atif of Karachi Golf Club. Tehmina Rashid of Islamabad came second and Abiha Hanim Sayed of Karachi came third. Net first was secured by Shahzadi Gulfam of Punjab Police while Marina Khan of Karachi was runner up net. Third position winner was Shabana Shahid of Karachi.

Other prizes: Ayesha Moazzam (Garrison) 1st gross; Mrs Saleem Akhter (MGGC) 2nd gross; Mrs Farnaz Bajwa (MGGC) 3rd gross; Suhyung Jung (Islamabad) 1st net; Asma Maqsood (Abbotabad) 2nd net; Nighat Sultana (Rawalpindi) 3rd net. The 3rd PGF Ladies Amateur Golf Championship turned out to be a wonderful event thanks to the efforts of two accomplished ladies, Dr Asma Shami of PGF and Zeenat Ayesha, Tournament Director and the support of Pakistan Golf Federation and its President Lt Gen M. Hilal.

At the conclusion of the Championship the prizes were awarded to the prize winners by Dr Sania Nishter in a grand function at the Islamabad Golf Club attended by Brig Ijaz Khan, Secretary PGF, the participating lady golfers and elite of the city.