Shabbir marches towards J A Zaman Open Golf title

From our correspondent

LAHORE: Shabbir Iqbal was in commanding position at the end of the second round of the J.A. Zaman Memorial Open Golf Championship at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course on Saturday.

Shabbir exhibited pure class and will look to secure his fifth title going into the final round on Sunday (today).

Following his flawless display on Friday, Shabbir picked up from where he left to post a gross score of 68 and lead by eight strokes. Despite encountering a double bogie mess-up on the fourth hole, he made up for the error by hitting five birdies in the following holes. His aggregate score after two rounds was 133, eleven-under par.

“I feel exhilarated about my victory chances in this Championship and look forward to playing another phenomenal round on the final day on Sunday,” said Shabbir.

The nearest adversary for Shabbir was Talib Hussain of Islamabad. He brightened up his chances with the help of an eagle on the seventh hole and six birdies. He had an aggregate score of 141, three-under par after two rounds.

Matloob Ahmed of Garrison was the other golfer in contention. Utterly disappointed with his first-round performance when he had a poor round of gross 77, Matloob found his masterly touch and his score of 67, five-under will give him a lot of confidence going into the final day. He now stands third on the leaderboard with a score of 144, level par.

A few others vying for the top honour are Akber Mehroze (Gymkhana) at 145, while Muhammed Naeem (Peshawar), Danyaal Jehangir (Gymkhana), Muhammed Munir (Islamabad) and Muhammed Qasim (DHA, Karachi) are all bracketed at 146.

A total of 44 professionals were able to make the cut on Saturday.

Standings in the amateur section were: Ahsan Khawaja of Gymkhana led with the score of 145, followed by Green City’s Ghazanfar Mehmood at 150 and his club-mate Raja M at 157.

The Ladies event will be held today over 18 holes.