A golf match was held in memory of Mr. Raza Ali Khan, (إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّآ إِلَيْهِ رَٰجِعُونَ – We belong to Allah, and to Him we return) a notable young golfer of Lahore Gymkhana Club who passed away in a fatal road accident, around four months ago.
The champion team of the first edition of the Raza Ali Khan Memorial Pro Am 2023 Golf Match, comprised of Golf professional Shahid Hanif, Omar Zia and Fahad Yousaf, both amateurs.
Mr Handsome, Family & Honouring Match
Raza Ali Khan was Mr Handsome of Gymkhana. From a prosperous family, he was the grandson of former IG Police, Mr. Qurban Ali Khan in whose name is the Qurban Lines area in Lahore. A person of immense virtue, he was very considerate towards the lower staff, the caddies, the malies (gardeners) the bearers.
Invariably courteous and helpful this progeny of a golfing family has always been seen shuffling around the Gymkhana Golf Course with an air of permanence complemented by golfing mastery and dexterity. For that reason it came as a shock when his playing mates, his seniors and fellow members learnt that he was no more. The tragedy was petrifying and golfers felt deranged and unsettled.
Time has its own way of alleviating trauma, however, memories persist, thereby, his friends at Gymkhana decided to honour Mr Handsome by holding the Raza Ali Khan Memorial Pro Am 2023 Golf Match at Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course.
The Tragedy
The tragedy struck when his friend visited him to share the acquisition of a newly acquired heavy motorbike of which he was considered an expert. Raza decided to test drive and then the accident happened and all was lost.
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The First Edition Overview
An enthusiastic golfers who assembled to participate in the first edition match were several and most of them accomplished golf players. Sardar Murad the recently crowned senior amateur golf champion of Pakistan was there and so was Omar Zia, Taimur Shabbir, Khawaja Imran Zubair, Asad Hameed, Aftab Arshad, Khursheed Aziz, Farooq Khan plus quite a few other remarkable ones.
As for flow of the Raza Ali Khan Pro Am Golf Event, the format involved teaming together one golf professional with two amateurs and names were drawn out of the hat to make the competition equitable. During the course of the 18 holes Championship noticeable was the golfing prowess on display. Indeed every competitor played focused golf and visible was concentrated self discipline in shot making, excellence around the greens and persuasive putting.
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The champions team that earned the honour of attaining dignity as the front runners comprised of Professional golfer Shahid Hanif, Omar Zia and Fahad Yousaf, both amateurs. Their team score was 13 under par and this reflected a truly applaudable feat. Second position holder was the team of Shahid Javed Khan, Golf Professional and amateur players Sardar Murad and Ammar Hameed. This team also had an impressive score of 11 under par. Third position teams were two. One team was Daniyal Jehangir, Aftab Arshed and Taimur Shabbir and the other team was Asif Ali, Imran Zubair and Khurshid Aziz. These two teams accumulated scores of 10 under par. Another team that ended the match at 9 under par was Akbar Mehroze, Asad Hameed and Farooq Khan.
The closing moments in this Raza Ali Khan Memorial Pro Am Golf Match were heart warming yet touching and heart rending as his wife and children distributed prizes amongst the top performers. And the universal consensus was that this golf event will be an annual affair.
