Lahore - Shabbir Iqbal of Islamabad, who is the best professional golfer of Pakistan, clinched the 5th JA Zaman Memorial Open Golf Championship title here at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course.
On the first day, Shabbir had a round of 67, an unparalleled 62 in the second round and a steady 72 on the final day to favorably wrap up the championship with an aggregate score of 201, 15 under par. Matloob Ahmed of Garrison was runner-up with aggregate score of 208, eight under par. Sunny Masih of Gymkhana was third with score of 209, five under par. Others to attain various places are Shafiq Masih (Gymkhana) 210, Hamza Amin (Islamabad) 213, M Munir (Islamabad) 213, M Ashfaq (Karachi Airmen Golf Club) 214, Jafal Hussain (Gymkhana) 215, Waheed Baloch (Karachi) 216 and Shahid Javed Khan (Gymkhana) 216.
In the senior professionals category, the winner was M Iqbal of Gymkhana while Asghar Ali also of Gymkhana stood second and M Akram of Wapda was third. In amateur category, the gross winner was Ghazanfar Mehmood (Garden City Golf Club) while M Saqib (Garrison) was runner-up and M Rehman (Royal Palm) third. The winner in the seniors’ event was Javed Khan of Lahore Gymkhana. The ladies gross was won by Zahida Durrani of Garrison Golf Club and the ladies net was won by Ana James Gill of Lahore Gymkhana.
In the end, Hamid Zaman and Mrs Hamid Zaman, in the presence of Kamran Lashari, Shaukat Javed, Khawaja Imran Zubair, Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman, Amer Mehmood and participating golfers, gave away prizes to the winners. Hamid Zaman also announced a package for the caddies to upgrade their education, health and livelihood.