Shahid Javed Khan of Royal Palm Golf and Country Club played some stunning golf,shooting an incredible six under par 66, on the final day of the MENA(Middle East and North Africa) Golf Tour,Sheikh Maktoum Open Golf Championship at the Al Badia Golf Club,to aggregate a champion like score of nine under par 207 and thereby attain the fourth positin in the presence of some intimidating golf champions from USA,Great Britain,Scotland,Canada,Morroco,Kenya and UAE.
Shahid Javed(Royal Palm) may not have been able to seal the top position for himself but remained a strong contender throughout the final round,ending behind Peter Richardson(Great Britain),Lindsay Renolds(Canada) and Dale Marminon(USA).At the close of the event he spoke to Col(r)Jamil Khalid,Director Golf of Royal Palm and there was less talk and more tears of joy.He thanked Royal Palm for the wonderful support given to him.”I am feeling good,playing well and looking forward to the next MENA Golf Tour Event due to start from 17th October at Al Ain Golf Club”.
The Mena Golf Tour is a superb new initiative by the Sheikh Maktoum Golf Foundation,having created new windows of oppurtunities for the Pakistani leading golf professionals ,Middle East and North Africa national professionals and international golf professionals.As for other Pakistani golf professionals participating in this tour Aadil Jehangir and Shafiq Masih have also shone as the outstanding ones.For the better part of the first two rounds in this competition,Aadil Jehangir has played exceedingly well fetching brilliant scores of 68 on the first day and 69 in the second round.However on the final day the closing three holes brought misery in the shape of bogies,two due to three putts and the closing score of 72,although not bad,pushed him down to the eighth position.
All the same his aggregate of seven under par 209 can be graded as excellent.Similar comments apply to Shafiq Masih who ended one position behind Aadil Jehangir with three rounds scores of 71,69,70 and an aggregate of 210.Matloob ended at 216.Final top positions:Peter Richardson(Great Britain)200;Lindsay Renolds(Canada)204;Dale Marminon(USA)204;Shahid Javed Khan(Pakistan)207;Faycal Sarghini(UAE)207;Simon Dunn(GB)208;Aadil Jehangir(Pakistan)210;Shafiq Masih(Pakistan)210.
