Waheed Baloch retains Pakistan Open lead

KARACHI: Waheed Baloch on Friday retained his spot at the top of the leader-board in the UMA 48th Pakistan Open Golf Championship with another impressive round of 69 here at the Karachi Golf Club.

With the Rs10 million championship entering into its business end, Waheed has a two-shot lead against defending champion Shabbir Iqbal with the duo of Ahmed Baig and Ansar Mehmood just three shots off the pace.

Teeing off in the second round with a slim one-shot lead thanks to a stunning 67 on the opening day, Waheed made a terrific start as he birdied holes 1,3,4 and 5 to consolidate his lead. His only bogey on the front nine came on the 2nd hole which has been turned into a par-4 from par-5 for this championship. However, things changed for him on the back nine where he made bogeys on holes 11 and 12. He made a birdie on the par-4 16th to end the day at two-under 69 for a 36-hole aggregate of 135 (-7).

At 137 (-5) is the seasoned Shabbir Iqbal who carded 70 in the second round.

Ahmed Baig is just one shot behind Shabbir at 138 but could have ended the round in a much better position. He had a bogey on the third and a double bogey on the fourth hole to card two-under par 69. He is tied for the third place with Ansar Mehmood, who followed his opening day’s 67 with 71.

Lahore’s Usman Ali fired the best round of the day — 67 — to finish at an aggregate of 139 tied with Peshawar’s Taimoor Khan. They are followed by Latif Rafiq, Matloob Ahmed, Muhammad Alam and Hamza Amin.

Among the amateurs, former national champion Omar Khalid stayed ahead after carding 74 that included birdies on holes 8 and 14. Omar, who carded 71 on Thursday, has a two-day aggregate of 145. In second place among the amateurs is former Pakistan No.1 Umer Khokhar, who fired a sizzling round of 69 to make up for his opening round’s 79. He is two shots behind Omar at 147. Apart from these two, just two more amateurs — Salman Jahangir and Yashal Shah — managed to make the cut.