Waleed Zubair of Lahore Gymkhana emerged as the front runner by upstaging the overnight leaders Wasim, Hamza and Omer Salamat at the end of the second round in the 54 holes three days 27th Millat Governors Cup Golf Championship in progress at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course on Saturday.
In the process, Waleed surprised the most accomplished zero handicap amateur, Wasim Rana of Karachi and many other hopeful aspirants like Omer and Ali Anwar and Danyaal Jehangir. Not that its all over, for there is a final round of razor sharp 18 holes still to go and those who lag one or two strokes behind the leader, Waleed, look motivated enough to come up with brilliance that tilts the final outcome their way.
Competitors who fall in this category are Omer Salamt (Gymkhana), Mohammed Leghari (Royal Palm), Ali Anwar Khan (Gymkhana), Nadeem Abbas (Sargodah) and Danyaal Jehangir (Gymkhana). Whereas players like Mohammed Leghari and Ali Anwar have the handicap advantage, the more matured ones like Wasim and Omer have the ability to keep their nerves in control when the going gets tough during the closing moments of the final rounds on Sunday.
The standing of the top ten are as follows at the end of two rounds/36holes: Waleed Zubair (Gym) 71+70=141 net; Waseem Rana (Karachi) 68+74=142 net; Omer Salamat (Gym) 68+74=142 net; Mohammed Leghari (Royal Palm) 74+68=142 net; Ali Anwar Khan (Gym) 69+74=143; Nadeem Abbas (Sargodah) 70+74=144; Danyaal Jehangir (Gym) 74+70=144; Aayan Mumtaz is at 145, Lieutenant Colonel Imran Habib at 145 and Hamza Asif at 146 net.
Standings in the gross section totally favour Wasim Rana who has an aggregate score of gross 142 for two days and he is four strokes ahead of his nearest rival Danyaal Jehangir, who stated yesterday that his not bothered by this and will make a match of it in the final round on Sunday.
Others in tag are Nadeem Abbas a50, Omer Salamat 152, Zulfiqar 152, Lieutenant Colonel Imran Habib 154, Robin Bagh 154, Amer Mehmood 158 and Wazir Ali 158. A total of 85 seniors are competing in the seniors event and at the time of filing this report a lot of the hot contenders amongst them were still on the golf course and Faisal Feroze and Omer Azim were having a tough time in ensuring completion of the round on time. The Governor Punjab, Salman Taseer will be the chief guest at the prize distribution on Sunday (today).