LAHORE - The 1st KPGA Soni Wali Cup, Ladies Amateur Golf Championship, is teeing off today (Friday) at the Peshawar Golf Club. 

Over 30 lady golfers from all over Pakistan are participating in this three-day event, in which the Honourable Begum Zahida Parveen, wife of Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, will be the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony on December 19.

Largely due to the dedicated efforts of senior women golfers, Ladies Golf in Pakistan has developed to a point where it is recognised as an important part of the National PGF Golf Calendar which includes four, ladies only, annual golf championships – one at the National level under the PGF and three at the provincial level under the PGA, SGA and FGA. Therefore, in her capacity as Chairperson Ladies Golf, PGF, Dr Asma Shami felt that now was the appropriate time to honour the memory of two pioneers of ladies’ golf in Pakistan, both of whom were golfing icons of their respective eras.  Consequently, two separate Ladies Golf Championships, have been planned, one each dedicated to honouring the memory of Soni Wali of Peshawar and Ghazala Ansari of Lahore. While Ghazala is due to have a Special Tournament conducted in her name in Gymkhana Lahore early next year, the 1st KPGA Soni Wali Cup, Ladies Amateur Golf Championship is teeing off today at the Peshawar Golf Club.  These pioneers had to struggle to make their mark in an environment in which the attitude of the Golfing Establishment towards women golfers vacillated between condescending courtesy and benign neglect. Despite the fact that they had none of the opportunities that Lady Golfers now take for granted, they earned national recognition for their golfing prowess. In the case of Soni Wali she deserves special recognition of the fact that she emerged as a brave trail blazer in the 1970’s in the highly conservative Frontier (now KPK) Province. With the active support of her family, she first became a single handicapper and then, in 1976, won the National Ladies Golf Championship. It is indeed both sad and unfortunate that she died an untimely death, before she could make her mark in the international arena. 

Although she is a role model for all Lady Golfers, it is worth mentioning that two of her young relatives i.e., Parkha and Rimsha Ijaz, are following in her footsteps. In the Punjab Open held recently in Lahore, they stunned everyone by carding dream scores of minus 8 and minus 6 respectively. However, in keeping with the adage, ‘One’s loss is often another’s gain,’ this has left the field open for Bushra Fatima and Arooba Ali to seek to win the 1st Soni Wali Cup in this inaugural event.  It may be mentioned that 13-year-old Bushra Fatima has already created a sensation by graduating from Dr Shami’s Junior Girls cadre and reducing her handicap from 36 to 9 within a single calendar year and, also winning the 3rd Gross Prize in the recently held 4th PGA Ladies Golf Championship. 

The organisers  are very grateful to KPGA and President Peshawar Golf Club for sanctioning the conduct of this historic event. Similarly, they owe a debt of gratitude to Mr Iqbal Wali, the younger brother and erstwhile golf partner of Ms Soni Wali, for keeping his illustrious sister’s memory alive. In fact, he has personally funded the entire expenditure for this event.