Karachi  -  Matloob Ahmed beat national golfer Muhammad Shabbir to win the Bank Al Habib’s 8th Rashid D Habib Memorial National Professional Golf Championship, which concluded at Karachi Golf Club on Sunday.

Matloob played outstanding golf through the event, thus emerged as title winner. He earned Rs 630,329 as prize money. Speaking on the occasion, Matloob Ahmed said: “Bank Al Habib’s Golf Tournament is contributing towards the growth of golf in Pakistan. Other corporate kings should also come forward to sponsor golfing events as it will help promote and flourish this beautiful game in Pakistan.”

Ansar Mahmood of Pakistan Navy and defending champion Muhammad Shabbir were the runner-ups with and bagged Rs 324,651 each. The third position went to Hamza Amin, who received Rs 202,380 as prize money. Top five golfers in Pakistan Muhammad Ashfaq, Waheed Baloch, Matloob Ahmed, Muhamamd Munir and Muhammad Shabbir were also paid appearance money of Rs 100,000 each. Appearance money of Rs 150,000 was also equally distributed to top three senior professionals Mehmood Kiyani, Muhammad Akram and Imdad Hussain.

Imdad Hussain took first position in the senior professional category and grabbed prize money of Rs 131,670. The second position went to Muhammad Akram with prize money of Rs 82,294, while third position went to Iftikhar Ahmed, who got Rs 61,916. In the KGC professionals category, Ayaz Gul took the lead and bagged Rs 81,000 as prize money. Taj Nabi of KPT, Shehzad Yousuf and Shakir Ali followed him on second positions. Their prize was Rs 51,450 each.

Nabeel Khan won the KGC caddies category and won Rs 82,350. M Nawaz was runner-up with Rs 66,600 and Kalfort Jan finish third and earned Rs 49,950. Latif Khaskheli was the lucky winner in KGC senior professionals category and was paid Rs 19,000. Syed Jamal Badshah stood second and was paid Rs 15,000. The young professionals category saw Asad Khan of PAF winning first position and Rs Rs 42,750 while Kashif Masih captured second position and Rs 33,750. The 1300 CC car kept for hole-in-one winner remained unclaimed.

Chief guest of the ceremony Commander Karachi Vice Admiral Asif Khaliq HI-M, Pakistan Navy, encouraged the efforts of Bank Al Habib for holding such a wonderful golf event and congratulated the winners. Speaking on the occasion, Bank Al Habib Managing Director Abbas D Habib said: “Allah has blessed us with the capacity to deliver this golf tournament and we are thankful to him. We are talking with Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF) and looking forward to sponsor training of three 12 to 14 years old golfers for international levels.”