Young KGC team win Royal Palm inter-club crown

KARACHI: In near freezing conditions, Karachi Golf Club’s young quartet came back from behind to win the Royal Palm Inter-Club Team Championship by a narrow margin of two strokes in Lahore on Sunday.

Spearheaded by Omar Khalid, who was in top gear in the final round, the KGC team braved extremely cold and foggy conditions to edge hosts Royal Palm Country and Golf Club.

At the start of the third and final round on Sunday, KGC teed off five shots behind overnight leaders Royal Palm. Omar Khalid, 17, turned out to be the top performer for KGC as he played a par round of 72 to help the team overtake the hosts. Saim Shazli carded 76 and so did Yashal Shah. They finished with an aggregate of 699.

Royal Palm were given a boost by their number one player Hussain Hamid, who birdied the last three holes to card 71. But he fell short of taking the host club to victory. Royal Palm finished second with Ahmed Zafar Hayyat (80) and Shahid Abbas Awan (82) being the other top two performers.

Lahore Gymkhana finished third on the back of a superb round of 71 by Pakistan No. 1 Salman Jahangir.

In the individual category, Hussain Hamid won the gross title with an aggregate of 227. He edged Omar Khalid, the gross runner-up, by one stroke. Syeda Iman Ali Shah won the ladies gross title while Bushra Fatima was the runner-up.