ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Navy is organizing 7 th Chief of Naval Staff Amateur Golf Championship from 10 th to 12 th November 2017. This will be the 7 th consecutive year of this championship and for the 7 th segment of this much sought after annual event, Garrison Golf Club has been chosen to play host to this championship. Because of its popularity and endorsement by Pakistan Navy, it has acquired a reputation of excellence and all stake xx1toto holders are vying to makesure that all aspects of the Championship are handled and executed in a superb manner and the competitive activity illuminates the golf scene of the country.
Salman Jehangir of Lahore Gymkhana played a spectacular first round on the opening day, in the three rounds 7th Chief of Naval Staff Golf Championship in progress at the well prepared, par 72 Garrison Golf and Country Club Golf course. In the face of slightly poor visibility and murky conditions because of wholesome smog, this highly skilled young golfer right on target from the word go and his opening birdie on the first hole was an indicator of his relentless spirit and an urgeto appear as an unbeatable amateur. As if that was not enough reflection of his intentions, Salmanfurther went on to birdie the 3rd and 4th holes helped by a tee shots of excellence and whatfollowed on the remaining 14 holes was superb hitting, classic approach shots to the green and all this was backed by fluency on the greens. He putted like a man in total control of his nerves and rattled in the putts without any hiccups. In this first round of the championship, he had three birdies on holes 1,3, 4, and12 and ten pars and three bogies. The effort fetched him a round of gross 71,one under par, which represents the best score of the day.
The leader of the first round may be satisfied with his own effort but from the competitive angle his nearest challengers are two more nationally ranked players, Zohaib Asif of Karachi and M.Rehman of Royal Palm.
Zohaib Asif, a champion in the making ended the first round with a score of gross 73 and at the score of 74 is M.Rehman. Both these competitors are talent and experience loaded and quite capable of moving ahead of Salman with a more spirited performance during the second round on Saturday. This means that Salman has a task ahead of him in the remaining two rounds and this might even turn out into a battle of nerves. Ability wise these three contenders are solid as far as the golfing abilities go. What will make the difference is proper application of skills and focus. Two more competitors who are looking good are Muhammed Insaf and Muhammed Ashfaq at a score gross 75 and 76.
The great effort put up by Salman Jehangir, Zohaib Asif and M.Rehman was a source of delight for Commodore Dr S.M.Shahzad,Station Commander, Pakistan Navy in Lahore and the Chief Organizer of the Championship. Commodore Shahzad was there all day, keeping a track of the champions and sending waves of encouragement all around. With his energy and approach hecan do wonders for golf.
Because of the smog factor 60 keen competitors could not complete their 18 holes on Friday and will do so on Saturday. Out of these sixty Damil Ataullah is playing amazingly well.
The seniors played nine holes on Friday and will play the remaining on Saturday. The race is on between Javed Khan, Lt Col Waqar Ahmed, Brig Nasrullah Khan, Dr Javed Iqbal and Maj Gen Muhammed Tahir.
The ladies will tee off today at 8am on Saturday.