LAHORE: Sardar Murad won the the 35th Millat Tractors Governor’s Cup Golf Championship which concluded at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course on Sunday.

Murad succeeded in capturing the Governor’s Cup 2018 by a margin of one stroke through an overwhelming effort which enabled him to prevail over the overnight leader Suleman Akhter. In the final round many contenders were determined to seek this title and the hopefuls included champions like Danish Javed (NTDC, WAPDA), Ahmed Baig (Garrison) and Suleman (Gymkhana).

During the course of the final 18 holes the championship took many twists and turns and while Suleman remained in command for quite some time and so did Danish Javed, but as the game proceeded towards the concluding holes, the tenacity of Sardar Murad started to tilt the contest in his favour. While Danish Javed hit a poor shot on the 15th hole after an excellent drive , and thereby slipped behind the victor, Suleman also missed an important putt on the 17th hole to give Sardar Murad the advantage, going into the final hole. Fortunately for Sardar Murad , he can rightly boast that he acquired the title by controlling his nerves when it mattered most. Murad won with a three days aggregate score of 211 as against the net score of 212 compiled by Suleman Akhter for whom the end became disheartening and agonizing. Danish Javed ended up third.

In the gross section the gross winner turned out to be Salman Jehangir of Gymkhana with three rounds scores of 77, 75 and 70 and aggregate gross score of 222. The runner up gross was Ahmed Baig (Garrison) and his gross aggregate was 223. Third gross went to Syed Raza Ali Rizvi (Mangala) with a score of 227.

In the ladies section , the participation was impressive and because of the large number participants , the Organisers had to impose a cut after the first 18 holes and nine ladies were weeded out and only 19 played the final round. Young Momina Tarar of Royal Palm outsmarted her fellow competitors to win the first net with a first round excellence followed by a steady effort on the final day. Her net scores for the two rounds were 65 and 77 giving her a winning aggregate of 142.

Rubina Nasir also of Royal Palm got the second net . Her score was 146. Third net went to Shabana Waheed (Garrison) . She managed a net aggregate of 150. Amongst the Boys the one with the best net score turned out to be Abdullah Farooqi(Gymkhana). M. Arhass(PAF) came second.

Other Results:Ladies;Anna James Gill(Royal Palm), (3rd gross);Zeb un Nisa (2nd gross); Parkha Ijaz (Defence Raya) 1st gross;Veterans;Saulat Said (Gymkhana) 3rd gross; Brig Iftikhar Ahmed (Garrison) 2nd gross; Col Shahid Mehboob (DHA Karachi)1st gross; Javed Hameed (Gymkhana ) 3rd net;Iqbal Saigol (Gymkhana) 2nd net; Ejaz Malik(Gymkhana) 1st net;Seniors;Omer Farooq(Gymkhana)3rd gross;Col Waqar Ahmed(Garrison)2nd gross;Col Rustam Piracha(Garrison)1st gross;Maj Gen Muhammed Tahir(Gymkhana)3rd net;Dr Javed Iqbal(Garrison)2nd net;Col Muhammed Younis, 1st net;Juniors;M. Bilal Ahmed(Garrison)2nd gross;Yasin Intikhab(Gymkhana)1st gross;Hole in One;Omer Zia;Best rounds gross;first day-Hussain Hamid;2nd day-Qasim Khan;3rd day;Ahmed Zafar Hayat, 1st day;Net best rounds;Rehaman Saleem-1st day;M. Arslan-2nd day;Aleem Rehman, (Gym) 3rd day;

A prize of Rs 100, 000 was announced by Ahsan Imran, CEO Millat Equipment for Omer Zia who did a hole in one. At the conclusion of the Championship the prizes were awarded to the winners by Lt Gen (retd) Hilal Hussain, President Pakistan Golf Federation, and Sikandar Mustafa Khan, Chairman Millat Group and Shaukat Javed, Convenor Golf , Lahore Gymkhana. Lt Gen Hilal Hussain highlighted that a number of steps have been initiated to develop golf in Pakistan.