Shabbir fires 63 to take big lead in Pakistan Open

KARACHI: Shabbir Iqbal is regarded as quite a magician on the national golf circuit. On Saturday here at the Karachi Golf Club, he showed why.

The Pakistan No. 1 from Islamabad played one of the best rounds of his illustrious professional career when he carded eight-under par 63 on the third day of the UMA 48th Pakistan Open Golf Championship.

His stunning round which included eight birdies equaled the course record and helped Shabbir take a massive six-stroke lead going into the final round of what is the country’s premier professional golf championship.

“I had a great day today as everything worked for me,” commented Shabbir, who now comfortably sits at the top of the leader-board with a 54-hole aggregate of 200 (-13). His closest rival Ahmed Baig is at 206 (-7). Shabbir has never squandered such a big lead and he is unlikely to do so in the final round of the Rs10 million championship on Sunday (today).

He started the third round today, two shots behind overnight leader Waheed Baloch. But the tables turned quickly as Shabbir birdied the par-4 first hole while Waheed made a double bogey. In top gear, Shabbir made a series of excellent putts for seven more birdies on holes 3,5,7,11,12, 16 and 17.

Ahmed Baig carded three-under par 68 while the experienced Matloob Ahmed fired his best round of the tournament – an impressive 66 – to take the third place on the leader-board at 207. Waheed (209) slipped to fourth place after carding 74. He is followed by Latif Rafiq (210), Ansar Mehmood, Sajjad Khan, Mudassir Iqbal and Muhammad Naeem (211), Muhammad Munir and Dilshad Ali (212).

Meanwhile, in the battle for the amateurs’ gold medal, national champion Omar Khalid consolidated his lead to five strokes after carding 74 in the third round. Omar, 17, made birdies on holes 4, 10 and 14. In second place is Lahore’s Salman Jahangir who carded 75. He is followed by Yashal Shah and Umer Khokhar. The four-day championship will conclude on Sunday (today).