The three-day 4th Aquafina Royal Palm Amateur (RPA) Golf Championship concluded here on Sunday with Hamza Amin startling all. Mahad Zafar won challenge shield, while Nushmiya emerged victorious in ladies' event.
Hamza Amin is a youngster, currently studying business management, in Austria, and has been enjoying his break in Pakistan. Within a few days of arrival in Pakistan and with just a few rounds of golfing practice, he showed his prowess as a golfer of substance. Very soon, one may expect that his rise in international arena wouldl come through at an extraordinary pace.
Through rounds of 69, 73, and 74, Hamza virtually wrecked the winning chances of many other competitors and carved out a decisive victory for himself, as also for the Islamabad 'A' team, besides himself, comprising Taimur Hassan, Mehmood Aziz and Mubraiz Ahmed. In the team event, Islamabad 'A' performed ably and the team members combined extremely well to look dominant throughout the championship. At the end of the three rounds, Islamabad 'A' emerged victorious with three days' aggregate team score of 674.
As regards other teams, Multan, comprising Zulfiqar Ali, Abdul Zahoor, Ashiq Hussain and Amir Shahzad, captured the runners-up slot, curbing the strong challenge put up by the Gymkhana 'A' team. Ultimately, Gymkhana 'A' team, consisting of playing members Aleem-ur-Rahman, Danyaal Jehangir, Murad A.Khan and Sardard Murad, ended up third, with a score of 703.
In the competition for individual gross honours, Hamza Amin ended up on top with a score of gross 216, followed by Taimur Hassan at 224, Zulfiqar Ali at 224, Waseem Rana at 226, Aleem-ur-Rahman at 228, and Abdul Zahoor at 232. Hamza's father, Taimur Hassan, also made his presence felt with rounds of 72, 79 & 73, finishing the final hole on the last day with a dazzling birdie putt, which fetched him second position. The challenege shield was played over two rounds and 36 holes, and the winner in net category was a very young one, Mahad Zafar, who finished the two days with net scores of 71 and 68, equal to 139. Seasoned Shahid Khan came second with a net score of 72+70=142.
Ladies section was dominated by Nushmiya Sukhera, who started the day with a triple bogey, yet managed to remain composed, and ended up with an 18 holes score of net 69. Kashfa Zafar came second in the net section, while Tahira Nazir won the runner-up gross, and Ghazala Yasmin won the ladies' gross.
Other Results (Invitees): Nearest to Pin: Max Babri; Longest Drive: Jahanzeb Qayyum; Net Runner-up: Kashif Mustafa; Net Winner: Abid Hussain; Gross Runner-up: Max Babri; Gross Winner: Saad Haleem.