Ahmad Baig dominates first day at 21st Sindh Open Golf Championship
Ahmad Baig of Lahore thwart the trio of Shabbir Iqbal, Muhammad Munir and Matloob Ahmed to take the lead of the first day at Sindh Open Golf Championship 2019 which is being held at Arabian Sea Country Club in Karachi.
Former Qatar Amateur Champion, Ahmad Baig was unstoppable even when the grass course of Arabian Sea Country Club was all rain-soaked as he carded an incredible round of five-under par 67 on the opening day of 21st Sindh Open Golf Championship.
Ahmad Baig to his lead said,
“So far so good. But this is only the first round. If I was playing an amateur tournament, this would’ve been a sizeable lead but it means nothing in professional category. Here, every round has to be a good one if you are to win."
He carded his name at top of the leader-board sharing the lead with defending champion, Matloob Ahmed who sank birdies on holes 3,5,6 and 7 and had an eagle on the par-5 11th hole. His only bogey came on the par-3 17th.
Also returning with a card of five-under par 67 was the seasoned Matloob, who had birdies on holes 1, 5, 7, 8, 12 and 16. He bogeyed the 13th hole. Placed one shot behind the leaders was the duo of five-time champion, Shabbir Iqbal and Aadil Jehangir on 68.
Shabbir was tied with Adil Jahangir, a shot behind the joint-leaders. He had birdies on the fifth and sixth holes but a bogey on the ninth impeded his serene progress. Further birdies followed on the 11th, 15th and 18th holes.
Adil had an incredible start on the front nine, sinking four birdies — on the second, fourth, sixth and seventh holes. He couldn’t however carry that momentum through the rest of the day’s play with a bogey on the14th and a birdie on the 16th rounding off his first-round show.
They were followed by the trio of Khalid Khan, Shafaq Khan and Shahid Javed on 69. A total of six players were on 70 including Waheed Baloch, Muhammad Tariq, Muhammad Safdar, Muhammad Khursheed, Amjad Yousuf and Muhammad Naeem.
In the Amateurs’ Category, Mohammad Sharif stands as the first round leader after he shot a 71 for a one-shot lead over Ghazanfar Mehmood and Junair Irfan. Zohaib Asif came fourth on 73 with Mohammad Shahnawaz and Sajid Khan rounding off the top six after both shot a 74.
