Ahmed first Pakistani to win Qatar Golf title

LAHORE: Ahmed Baig, a national amateur 18 years old golfer, etched his name in the history books when he became the first Pakistani Golfer to win the Qatar Open Golf title 2018 at the Doha Golf Club the other day.

He accomplished this feat through a superb performance over a three rounds contest that concluded at the Doha Golf Course the other day. He was up against the challenge of the Doha Championship Course which has excellent fairways and true greens and of course the sharp competition triggered by champion golfers from USA, England, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Slovakia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Korea, Philippines and Qatar.

This young and upcoming Pakistani shot a match winning two-under-par 70 in the final round to finish ahead of his nearest challengers Joshua White (England) and Ayoub Omar (Morocco). His aggregate score for the three rounds was 213, three under par and while Joshua White also finished at the same score, Ahmed had a better score over the last thirty six holes and hence secured the grand title for himself and his country. Ayoub Omar finished third with a score of 214.

By virtue of this victory, Ahmed Baig gets an opportunity to participate in the Qatar World Masters Open which is a European Golf Tour Event due to take place in third week of February, and this will be the first time that a Pakistani appears in this European Tour World Class Event. Interestingly a world cup appearance has eluded Pakistani top golfers for a long time.

“Pakistan have played in the cricket World Cup, hockey World Cup and squash World Cup but never before in our history that we’ve been in golf’s European Tour Golf Championship. Through this achievement Pakistan will be represented for the first time and hopefully I will be able to perform well,” said a delighted Ahmed Baig, while talking over the phone.

“I don’t know how to describe how I feel right now. I’m sure everyone in Pakistan will be very happy, especially my mentor Brig RM Bajwa, the Garrison Golf Course Management and the President of Pakistan Golf Federation, Lt Gen Hilal”, he added. Compliments were paid to Ahmed Baig by Secretary of Punjab Golf Association, Brig Shahid Wahab Rao who felt that this will serve as a boost for golf in Pakistan and crucial for creating more interest among the young ones.

Others who performed well in the Qatar Open Championship are Joshua White (England) who finished at a three rounds aggregate score of 213, followed by Ayoub Omar (Morocco) 214, Mats Markovits (Netherlands) 215, Jakub Hrinda (Slovakia), Mike Tooroop (Netherlands) 218. Taimur Khan of Pakistan also finished sixth at a score of 219. Two other Pakistan also appeared in this championship. Out of these two Saqib Tufail finished 23rd with a score of 233 and Zohaib Asif ended up 26th. His score was 235.