The Defence Raya Open Professional Golf Tournament 2021 came to a cessation at the par 72 impeccable Defence Raya Golf Course, bringing enhanced acclaim for Muhammed Shabbir Iqbal the number one ranked golf professional of Pakistan.
All through the four rounds of this championship, Shabbir Iqbal played like a high toned and predominant competitor and as a result he surpassed all his fellow contenders, most of whom are golf professionals of distinction and calibre. Not that his opponents lacked flair or adroitness or artfulness, it is just that Shabbir Iqbal is excellence personified. Over the four rounds Shabbir Iqbal was a principal super one in full control of his golfing expertise and skills and starting from round one he remained the top name on the leader board with a 70 gross on the first day, followed by a 67 on the second day another useful 70 on the third day and a spectacular 66 on the final day on Monday.
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Through this unveiling of his potency and sturdiness Shabbir ended the four rounds with an aggregate score of 273, fifteen under par and emerges as the Defence Raya Open Title Holder 2021 beating his nearest rival, M. Shahzad of Lahore Garrison by a margin of eleven strokes. While Shabbir Iqbal sparkled and beamed his competitors endeavored for the second slot. And the one who succeeded in doing so was the industrious one of Lahore Garrison, M. Shahzad.
In this Defence Raya Open Golf Event M. Shahzad a lesser known golfer has impressed with his competence in shot making, short game and putting skills and appears to be a likely one who will assert his superiority very soon. The athletic build is there and mental toughness is evident. His scores in this championship were 70, 77, 68 and 69 and the aggregate for four championship days was 284, four under par. Having ended up as the runners up is a fulfilling moment for him.
Ending up at third slot was Aadil Jehangir of PAF Skyview and he is another trained one who is going to be amongst the notable ones of the national golf circuit. His four rounds scores were 71, 72, 74 and 73 and the overall aggregate 290, two over par.
Other position holders were Matloob Ahmed (Lahore Garrison ) at 292, Muhammed Alam (PAF Skyview) 292, Wisal Khan (Peshawar ), Taimoor Khan (Peshawar) Talat Ijaz(Gymkhana) and M. Munir (Rawalpindi) all at 296, Ahmed Baig (PAF Skyview ) and Ashiq Hussain (Multan ) at 297.
The prize money for the championship was Rupees 5 million which top forty golfers earned. An outstanding feature of this championship was that it restricted participation to professionals of different categories and the person who conducted the championship so well was Haroon Shafiq of Defence Raya.
In the race for success amongst Junior professionals, M. Saqib of Lahore Garrison engraved his name on the winning trophy and first cash prize with a dependable display of powerful hitting and balanced play around the greens. Certainly a young one full of talent Musa Khan of Peshawar came second and Abdul Wadood of Multan came third.
Results of Senior Professionals event: Nisar Hussain, first; Javed Inayat, second; Irfan Mehmood, third.
The Defence Raya Open Golf Championship prizes and cash awards were given to the top performers by Lt. Gen. Abdul Aziz, Corps Commander, Lahore.
