The competitive proceedings of the 2nd PGF-Pakistan Golf Federation Match Play Golf Championship for consummate amateur golf players went into action at the par 72, Royal Palm Golf Course.
First round format was stroke play based and those who excelled in this configuration of play were Danish Javed and Salman Jehangir of Lahore Gymkhana and Abdul Moiz of Multan. As a result they earned byes for themselves and straight away move into the quarter final stage and will contest their matches on Friday. As for the other aspirants, they will face adversaries on Thursday and compete for earning a place in the quarter finals that will be fought out on Friday.
After the match play bouts on Thursday, five players will get eliminated while the successful ones will acquire the distinction of standing out as the quarter finalists of PGF Match Play Championship. Individual performances on the first day were impressive indeed and while Danish Javed ended the first round with a gross score of 73, Salman Jehangir managed a cemented and safe 74 gross and the third position holder, Abdul Moiz of Multan ended the round with gross 75.
As for the match play contests lined up for Thursday, Faisal Sayed of Royal Palm will match wits with Raza Nadir. Both these honour seekers are evenly matched skill wise and the one who achieves a win will have to show mastery and control in accurate shot making. In the second match between Qasim Ali Khan and Hamza Asif, Qasim looks likely to emerge as the better player. The fight between Hussain Hamid and Shahzad Iqbal will certainly produce sparks and will be worth tracking hole by hole. Mohsen Zafar is up against Usama Warraich and this is another fierce match play feud. Right now its difficult to predict a winner. Final match play duel of the day is between M. Arsalan and Zafar Ali.
