Hassan clinches Friends of Golf title

LAHORE: Hassan Hamed, a young talented player who played admirably, emerged as the title winner of the annual Friends of Golf annual competition contested at the Royal Palm golf course.

During the round he was brilliant on the back nine and had two birdies on holes 11 and 13, pars on holes 10 12 and 17 and bogeyed the remaining holes. Through a good all round display, he compiled a total of 38 points (17 points on the front nine and 21 on the back nine) to lead the table.

A total of 62 competing amateurs registered for a try at the glittering prizes offered by the sponsors while competing on the stable ford format basis, and on a slightly less hot day, many of the aspirants were just not gallant enough and due to vulnerability on the greens found their chances of victory fading away with each poor putt.

Another golfer with a winning touch was the ever steady performer Abdul Islam Nazir who showed fine match playing qualities to finish the front nine with 20 points but slightly erred on the back nine to pick up just 17 points.

His tally of 38 points equal to the points compiled by Hassan but the title was awarded to Hassan, as he had more points on the back nine, 21 to Hassan and 17 to Abdul Islam Nazir. In the competition there were a total of six prizes in the race for honours in amateur category.

While the first two positions went to Hassan Hamed and Abdul Islam Nazir, others who captured the last four positions were Asim Tiwana third, Ale Imran fourth, Ahmed Buksh fifth and Hussain sixth.

Senior section winner was the accomplished Hamid Sharif and his points tally was 35, a really appreciable effort. Runner-up was Mansoor Zaigham with 34 points and he lost to Hamid Sharif by just one point.

As for the other events the nearest to pin prize went to Zahid Hussain, the longest drive to Hassan Hamid and Hussain Hamid who both had a driving distance of 325 yards. Another notable one was a winner in the humble category and he was awarded the maximum golf prize for coming up with the lowest points. At the conclusion of the championship Abdullah Sharif, Captain Golf of Royal Palm, awarded prizes to the performers.