Khalid, Matloob share lead at Chairman JCSC Open Golf

KARACHI: DHA’s M Khalid on Thursday fired an impressive round of 71 to surprisingly emerge as a joint leader along with Lahore’s seasoned Matloob Ahmed in the second round of the Chairman JCSC Open Golf Championship here at the Karachi Golf Club.

Khalid, a popular caddy pro locally but relatively little known on the national circuit, has been in top gear in the lucrative event so far having braved windy conditions to post two solid rounds. He carded 70 in the opening round and shared the pole position with Matloob with a 36-hole aggregate of 141 (-3).

“I’ve playing well in this event and hope to play to my strengths in the last two rounds,” Khalid told ‘The News’.

Matloob, one of the top contenders for the title, followed his first round 69 with 72 on Thursday. Talib Hussain carded the best round of the day – 69 – to take the joint second place along with and Muhammad Afzal (70) and Minhaj Maqsood (72). The trio is just one shot behind the leaders at 142.

Ahmed Baig carded a super 70 for an aggregate of 143 alongside title favourite Shabbir Iqbal, Abdul Zahoor and Shahbaz Masih.

Local favourite Waheed Baloch, the opening day’s leader, struggled on Thursday as he carded 76 to slip out of the top-10.

In the amateurs’ category, Yashal Shah fired a round of 72 to take a three-shot lead in the opening round. In joint second place were Omar Khalid, who recently won the Governor’s Cup amateurs title, and Saim Shazli at 77. Just one shot behind them was Cmdre Abdul Rehman (78) followed by Cmdre Shahid Mehboob (79), Hamza Shikoh (80) and Zunair Khan (81).

In the ladies category, Hamna Amjad took a big step towards earning World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points when she carded 73 playing for the amateurs tees. She carded 85 on the opening day. Daniya Syed followed her opening round 81 with another similar score.

In the seniors’ category, Khurram Khan took a four shot lead after carding 75 in the opening round. In second place was Ahmed Jamil Siddiqui (79) followed by Brig Qasim Changezi, Khalid J Siddiqui and Sohail Kareem Rana.