Minhaj leads ahead of Shabbir, Matloob at Governor’s Cup

KARACHI: Rawalpindi’s Minhaj Maqsood made it clear on Friday that his stunning opening round 66 was no fluke when he fired yet another impressive round to retain pole position on the leaderboard of the inaugural Governor’s Cup Golf Championship.

Minhaj, who has overshadowed the more illustrious professionals in the first two rounds of the lucrative championship, enjoys a four-shot lead going into the penultimate stage of the event.

After stealing the limelight in the opening round, Minhaj made five birdies on holes 6,8,11, 14 and 15 and two bogies to return with a card of three-under par 69 in the second round. He now has a 36-hole aggregate of 135 (-9).

In a joint second place is pre-tournament favourite Shabbir Iqbal who followed his opening round 69 with another solid round of two-under par 70 for an aggregate of 139 (-5).

Lahore’s seasoned Matloob Ahmed catapulted himself back into contention after an opening round 73 as he carded Friday’s best round – a superb 66. He is now tied for the second spot with Shabbir. He is followed by Sunny Masih (140), Waheed Baloch (141), Dilshad Ali (141), Ahmed Baig (142) and Muhammad Zubair (142).

One of the highlights of the day was a stunning comeback made by Islamabad’s experienced Muhammad Munir, who flopped in the opening round with a 79. But on Friday, Munir was in full flow as he made a series of birdies to card 66.

In the amateurs’ category, Omar Khalid continued to top the leader-board with a round of 77. An A levels student at Karachi’s Nixor College, Omar has an aggregate of 155 that gives him a three shot lead going into the third round of the 72-hole contest.

The big-hitting Zunair Khan propelled himself into contention after a disappointing opening round 86 with an impressive round of 72 on Friday. He is now in second place with an aggregate of 158. One shot behind him is Major Sharjeel followed by the duo of Hamza Ghani and Khalid Hussain at 160. Saim Shazli is at 161 followed by Tahir Zulfiqar at 163.