KARACHI: Pakistan No. 1 Shabbir Iqbal will begin as a hot favourite to retain the Pakistan Open crown when the country’s premier championship will tee off here at the Karachi Golf Club from Thursday (today).
Shabbir, who recently won the Sindh Open here at the Airmen Golf Course by a big margin of seven strokes, is expected to face stiff challenge from the likes of the seasoned Matloob Ahmed, Muhammad Munir, Ahmed Baig, Hamza Amin and Waheed Baloch, the local KGC pro who won the Rashid D Habib Memorial title at his home club earlier this month.
Shabbir said that he was confident of giving his best in the event. “I’m in good form and am looking forward to defending my title in the most important event of the national calendar,” he said.
Pakistan’s top professionals will be joined by the country’s leading amateurs in the Rs10 million UMA 48th Pakistan Open championship. While the pros will be locking horns for the lucrative prize basket, the amateurs will be battling for the coveted gold medal and valuable World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points.
The field of amateurs is spearheaded by Lahore’s Salman Jahangir, who won the amateurs trophy at the Sindh Open last week. Then there is the 17-year-old Omar Khalid, who last year became the youngest National Amateur champion of Pakistan at KGC, his home club. Other leading players include Umer Khokhar, Saim Shazli, Yashal Shah and Nouman Ilyas.
However, there was a lot of resentment in the amateurs circles over the Pakistan Golf Federation’s decision to restrict entries to just invited players. The PGF had invited 15 amateurs for the Pakistan Open, ignoring several leading players including Rawalpindi’s Tipu Raja, who was runner-up at the National Amateur last year. Also overlooked were several other low handicappers from Karachi including Omar Shikoh, M.A Mannan, Major Sharjeel and Zia Hai.
The PGF’s policy to restrict entries to just invitees attracted criticism even from one of its own senior officials.
Asad I.A Khan, PGF’s Vice President, told ‘The News’ that the PGF has done a disservice to amateur golf by not allowing several high quality players from participating in the country’s premier event.
“It is highly disappointing to see PGF disallowing leading players like Tipu Raja and Omar Shikoh from participating in the Pakistan Open,” he said.
Asad said that he pleaded the case of these players with the PGF but to no avail.
“The decision to restrict entry of amateurs in a world ranking event is an unwise one and has left many a players disheartened. I have no idea who made this policy and why,” said Asad, himself an ardent golfer.
Meanwhile, the lush-green KGC course is fully ready to host the Pakistan Open after a long gap.
“The course is in excellent condition and we are all confident of hosting a highly successful championship,” said Cmdre Ghazanfar Abbas, KGC’s CEO.
Along with the main event which will be contested over 72, the championship will also feature senior professionals and junior professionals who will be playing in 54-hole contests.
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