Steady Matloob takes big lead in R.D Habib Memorial Golf

KARACHI: In blustery conditions, it was Matloob Ahmed, who once again came out as a shining star.

The seasoned Lahore pro tamed the elements to shoot an impressive 68 to take a sizeable four-shot lead in the penultimate round of the 9th Rashid D. Habib Memorial Golf Championship 2019 here at the wind-swept course of the Karachi Golf Club.

While most of the challengers fell by the wayside in the face of high winds, Matloob made a stunning eagle and two birdies to card 68, the day’s best score for a three-day aggregate of 208 (-8). He now enjoys a four-shot lead over his top two rivals – Shabbir Iqbal and M Munir.

Matloob birdied the seventh hole on Blue 7 and the par-5 10th on yellow. His only blemish of the third round came on the par-3 11th where he had a bogey.

He more than made up for it on the par-5 14th where he landed his second shot on the green and then made the putt for an eagle.

Shabbir and Munir – his partners in the leader flight – both had a roller-coaster sort of a day.

Shabbir birdied the par-4 third and the par-5 14th but a bogey on the last hole, the long par-4 on yellow meant that he finished the round with 72 to share the second spot on the leader-board with Munir.

Munir’s round was even less impressive as he had bogeys on holes 7,8 and 18th and a double bogey on the 14th. His birdies came on 4,5 and 11. Munir finished with 73 for an aggregate of 212.

Placed two strokes behind the duo of Shabbir and Munir was Muhammad Alam (214) who carded 73. Behind him was the trio of Muhammad Ashfaq, Talib Hussain, M Naeem at 216. Ahmed Baig finally showed some glimpses of his brilliance with an impressive round of 71 for an aggregate of 220.

The Rs7.9 million championship will conclude on Sunday (today).

Following is the leader-board after the third round:

208: Matloob Ahmed

212: Shabbir Iqbal, M Munir

214: Muhammad Alam

216: Muhammad Ashfaq, Talib Hussain, M Naeem

218: Dilshad Ali, Hamza Amin

220: Shahbaz Masih, Ahmed Baig

221: Ahmed Saeed, Muhammad Khurshid, Roman Khan, M Nazir.