Tariq Mehmood of Pakistan Navy played outstanding game and has won the Chief of Naval Staff Amateur Golf Championship here at the Royal Palm Golf Course. On the final day of this three-day event, Tariq Mehmood forcefully and gallantly stopped Ghazanfar's march to victory and through solid play he wiped out the overnight deficit of eight strokes and then in a playoff with Ghazanfar he went on to birdie the first playoff hole and stamp his name on the Chief of Naval Staff Trophy.

While Tariq was composed and in control over the final eighteen holes and in particular the closing three holes, the overnight leader and dominant one over the past two rounds found his putting touch and felt rebel against him and he was made to look like a novice and a competitor in total disarray.

Earlier, in the morning when Ghazanfar looked radiant and his march on the first hole reflected the walk of a proud winner but then nature had its own ways of passing the final judgement and as the holes were played apparent was Tariq's superiority and by the end of the first nine holes the stroke deficit was down from eight to four strokes and on the back nine the slide for Ghazanfar picked up pace and on the last three holes Ghazanfar facilitated his rival's victory march by three, putting the last three holes.

The final positions were as follows: Tariq Mehmood (Navy) 74+75+72=221; Ghazanfar Mehmood (Rawalpindi) 69+72+80=221; Mohammed Rehman (Royal Palm) 77+79+70=226; Salman Jehangir (Gymkhana) 81+75+77=233; Imran Ahmed (Gymkhana) 74+80+80=234; Waleed Zubair (Gymkhana) 86+76+75=237; Sajid Khan (Arabian Sea) 85+76+76=237; Colonel Rustam Chatta (Guj) 82+76+79=237.

In the contest for net honours the top one was Hussain Hamid with a three-day net score of 214, Waleed Zubair who ended at 216 was net runners up. Raza Ali Khan came third with a score of 217. The ladies gross winner was Ghazala Yasmin of Gujranwala Golf Club and the seniors gross winner was Javed Khan of WAPDA.

In the invitational category, the top performer in gross section was Rear Admiral Khan Hasham Bin Sadiq while Commodore Usman Tariq was the runner up. Net winner was Air Commodore Sohail Ahmed and net runners up was Air Vice Marshal Asad Lodhi. Asad I. A. Khan won the nearest to the pin prize. Commodore Akber Naqi the Station Commander of Pakistan Navy, Lahore confirmed that this would be a regular event and was thankful to sponsors such as Millat Tractors, MCB, Orient, Zong and Bata. At the end, Admiral Muhammed Asif Sandila, Chief of Naval Staff, Pakistan Navy distributed prizes among the winners at prize distribution ceremony.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012