LAHORE: Rawalpindi won the eighth Royal Palm Team Trophy at their home course here on Sunday.

The victorious squad having an aggregate score of 689 (41 over par) was led by retired Wing Cmdr I.N. Khokhar and comprised Idrees Nisar Tinkoo, Umar Khokhar, Khalid Mahmood and Ghazanfar Mehmood.

Multan came second with a score of 692 (44 over par). Zulfiqar Ali, Abdul Zahoor, Ashiq Hussain and Amir Shehzad were part of Multan team.

Royal Palm ‘A’, compiling a team score of 696 (48 over par), grabbed third spot. The team consisted of Mohammad Rehman, Mohsen Zafar, Omer Salamat and Abbas Ali Khan.

On the final day Khalid Mehmood and Umar Khokhar performed superbly as they combined well to keep the Rawalpindi team upfront almost throughout the final round.

Multan’s warhorses like Zulfiqar and Zahoor did cause some trouble by playing steadily but Ashiq Hussain, their third team member, messed it up and lost strokes unnecessarily.

As for Royal Palm, their two players Mohammad Rehman and Mohsen were certainly dominant but the support from their other team members lacked the necessary spark.

In the contest for Challenge Shield, Faisal Iqbal of Royal Palm came out as the top one and his hard work paid off in the shape of this title. His scores for the two rounds were net 74 on the first day and a brilliant net 69 on the second day while his aggregate for 36 holes was 143.

Hamid Sharif of Royal Palm played exceedingly well but had to be content with the runner-up slot. He had the same aggregate as that of the winner but lost on the countback.

Other impressive performers in this category were Tariq Mahmood and Haris Naseer.

Meanwhile, the gross section became the domain of Zohaib Wasif of DHA, Karachi. The young lad applied himself very well and this reflected in his three-round scores. He carded a 72 on the first day and backed that up by a 74 on the second day and again a 74 on the final day, giving him a winning aggregate of 224.

Naeem Khan of Abbottabad (224) came second followed by Multan’s Abdul Zahoor (225). Ghazala Yasmin of Garrison, Lahore won the ladies title for the fourth year running.

The runner-up gross in ladies section was Ami Qin (Islamabad) and Dr Rubab Haider (Gymkhana) came third.

The ladies’ net went to Sunya Osama (Garrison), Zaib-un-Nisa of Royal Palm was the runner-up followed by Ana James Gill of Royal Palm.

Amongst the ladies Nushmiya Sukhera, Maryama Khan and Mrs Sameea Javed Ali missed the prizes because of nervous putting.

At the conclusion of the championship, Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan, Punjab Minister for Sports, Tourism, Education, Youth Affairs and Archaeology, awarded prizes to the winners.