The 5th Chief of Naval Staff Amateur Golf Championship will commence from Friday (November 27 and will be contested over three days with final to be held on Sunday at the exquisite Royal Palm Golf Course.
This was stated by Commodore S.M. Shahzad of the Pakistan Navy in a press conference at the Royal Palm also attended and addressed by Omer Mir, General Manager ,Col(r) Jameel Khalid, Director Golf of Royal Palm and Khawaja Pervaiz Saeed, Director Media.
Shahzad further said that Pakistan Navy realises the importance of promoting sports like golf, hence, considers holding and supporting a championship of this status an essential component of the whole process. He further added a combined cohesive effort has been put in to make sure that the players spend memorable and delightful moments during the days of the competition and the competitors who take part in the Championship are supported in their effort to produce rounds of quality.
In this regards Omer Mir of Royal Palm said that " Organising Team has ensured that the playing arena, the Royal Palm Golf Course has all the ingredients like remarkable fairways, sterling greens, most admirable and commendable environment and multi allied heart-warming facilities"
Khawaja Pervaiz Saeed explained, "As far as the amateur golfers in the Men's category are concerned, only the skilled ones have been allowed to compete and the enabler is that the entrant must have a handicap of twelve and below . This restriction ensures that only the talented and established golf players combing the national golf circuit get a chance to show their prowess".
He further went on to say that, "This restriction hangs heavy on the intensely eager ones whose handicap is above twelve and they feel left out of a grand championship, but it also serves as an incentive to them to improve and enhance their golf skills and achieve this handicap, so that in the coming years they become an integral part of this activity". Colonel Jameel highlighted that "the events at stake are Seniors event, Ladies event, Juniors event and the prime event for amateurs".
As for the Seniors Event, it is for participants in the age bracket 55 years and above and having a handicap of 14 and below. Defending champion is Javed A. Khan (Lahore Gymkhana). Ladies Event is open to ladies with a handicap of 30 and below. Defending champion is Ghazala Yasmin (Garrison). Juniors' event is open to juniors below 18 years of age having handicap 24 and below. Defending champion Ali Anish(Gujranwala Golf Club) Main event is for amateurs with a handicap of twelve and below. Defending Champion is Ghazanafar Mehmood(Garden City Bahria Golf Club).
Khawaja Pervaiz Saeed said, "In this Championship, some leading and established names of our national golf circuit who are competing for this title are Waseem Rana, Zohaib Asif(Karachi), Naeem Khan(Abbotabad), Mohammad Rehman and Mohsin Zafar (Royal Palm), Tariq Mahmood (Islamabad) Ghazanfar Mehmood, Khalid Mehmood (Rawalpindi), Salman Jehangir, Murad Khan and Wazir Ali (Lahore Gymkhana).