The Samson Memorial Golf Tournament for golf caddies was held at the Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course and contested over 18 holes on stroke play basis. Incidentally, Samson was a highly respected caddie who died instantly in a tragic road accident, while coming to Gymkhana to perform his duties and this tournament has been started in his memory.
This tournament was only open to caddies who have the ability to play golf also and the event helped to highlight the talent of caddie golfers. Turn out in the competition was good and a total of 60 caddies participated in the event for the young caddies and 22 caddies participated in the event for senior caddies.
A heartening feature was that most of the participants looked trim, tidy and clean and though not too educated, they were dressed like students with a casual touch of elegance, and a taste in polo shirts which suggests a selection influenced by watching gentlemen golfers.
In the event for young caddies, Zafar Iqbal emerged as the winner with a startling performance and equally startling was Shahzad Masih who ended up as the runners up. Both of them had similar scores of gross 74 and as per rules the contest was decided after a sudden death play off between them. And to their credit, they did not show any strains, during the sudden death and in fact during the first three holes they had regulation pars and stood level. It was on the fourth hole that Zafar managed to topple Shahzad through an excellent putt.
Others who played well are Harpoon Masih (gross 75), Patras Masih (gross 76), Imran (gross 76), Amjad Khan (gross 76). Six players finished at a gross score of 77 and their names are Zahoor Khan, Asif Ali, John Nathanial, Waseem, Victor Masih and Asif Masih. The top scorers seem to be bright prospects and whether their effort comes to fruitition or not is dependant on many factors. However what they instantly need is regular competitions.
In the seniors' category, Muhammed Rashid came first and Soofi Anwar was the runners up. The tournament was organised by Rashid Masih, a prominent caddie of the club. At the conclusion of the tournament, Salman Siddique, Chairman, Lahore Gymkhana and Agha Ali Imam, Convenor Golf, awarded prizes to the winners.