KARACHI Shabbir Iqbal of Navy hit a string of five birdies in the second round to gain almost unbeatable five stroke commanding lead over his nearest rival in the UMA 15th Chief of Naval Staff Open Golf here at the Karachi Golf Course on Friday. Shabbir, who had ended the first round at three under 69, repeated his performance in the second round to finish six under 138, five stroke ahead of his nearest golfer Shahid Javed Khan of RPG who finished the second round at one under 143 after paring the round at 72. He had same score in the first round. With playing conditions improving and sun beating down strongly drying the greens and the fairways, Shabbir Iqbal is expected to retain and even improve his performance in the next two days. However in the game of golf, an off day could shatter the confidence even a strong willed golfer who could falter under pressure to lose his early round advantages. After unfortunate exit of title-holder Muhammad Munir, who was disqualified from the event on the first day for submitting a scorecard with wrong score, the chances of Shabbir Iqbal taking over the champions mantel look bright. Sun was brightly shining when the flights started leaving the club house on Friday morning. Shabbir was quick to repeat his putting form and on front nine, he saved a stroke each on par 5, second and fourth. He birdied back to back on par 4, 6th and par three 7th. He logged four under 32 on front nine. His putting suffered on back nine which he finished at one over 37 after bogeying on par four 10th and 18th. He collected his fifth birdie of the round on par five 14th. Shahid Javed Khan improved his ranking to finish second at the end of the second round. He hit four birdies and could have done better but on back nine, he had five bogey scores. Leader board at the end of second round: 138: Shabbir Iqbal (Navy) - 69-69 143: Shahid Javed Khan (RPG) - 71-72 144: Muhammad Tariq (ISB) - 72-72 Waheed Baloch (KGC) - 72-72 145: Matloob Ahmed (GYM) - 73-72 Imdad Hussain (LGC) - 73-72 Muhammad Siddique (LYL) - 73-72 146: Ansar Mehmood (Navy) - 74-72 147: Javed Inayat (KGC) - 72-75 Chanzaib (ISB) - 71-76 148: Amjad Yousuf (KGC) - 72-76 149: Afsar Ali (KGC) - 73-76 Imran Ali Khan (DHA) - 73-76 Muhammad Zubair (ISB) - 72-77.