Dilshad, Saeed share lead as DHA Independence Day Cup tees off

KARACHI: Little-known duo of Dilshad Ali and Muhammad Saeed were on Friday at the top of the leader-board after the opening round of the DHA 11th Independence Day Cup Golf Championship here at the wind-swept Defence Authority Country and Golf Club.

Even as the top contenders for the coveted title like Shabbir Iqbal, Matloob Ahmed, Ahmed Baig and Muhammad Munir struggled to cope with the challenging conditions, KGC’s Dilshad and LGG’s Saeed managed to hog the limelight. Dilshad had a see-saw round that saw him making several bogies but a series of birdies and a stunning eagle on the par-4 11th helped him card the joint best round of the day — an impressive two-underpar 70.

Saeed meanwhile gave a stunning display of attacking golf on the oceanside front nine where he carded 32 that included four birdies. But he couldn’t keep up the momentum on the back nine and finished as the joint leader with 72.

At joint second place (71) were a group of six golfers spearheaded by title favourite Shabbir Iqbal. The other five included Matloob Ahmed, Syed Raza Ali Rizvi, Imran Ali, Zohaib Asif and Muhammad Tariq.

The course was playing long with the tees placed at the extreme back and the tricky pin positions made the going tough even for a lot of accomplished contenders including Munir who carded a disappointing 77.

Leading players like the big-hitting Ahmed Baig carded 73 so did Waheed Baloch.

In the amateurs category, national amateur champion Omar Khalid fired an impressive round of 73 and was tied for first position with Arsalan Shikoh, who made a hole-in-one.

Omar, an A levels student at Nixor College, made an uneasy start with four bogies on the front nine but compensated for them with three birdies after the turn on holes 11, 12 and 15. His back nine score was 33.

Arsalan had a triple bogey on the par-4 second hole but bounced back with an ace on the par-3 7th. In third place was Major Sharjeel at 75 followed by the trio of Saim Shazli, Omar Shikoh Khan and Bilal Nasim (77), Taimur Ali Khan (79), Yashal Shah and Hamza Shikoh Khan (80) and Hamza Ghani, Arsalan Mughal, Sameer Feroz, Musatafa Haider and Abdul Moiz (81). The three-day championship will conclude on Sunday (tomorrow)