KARACHI: Matloob Ahmed finished his round on Saturday and sat in the lounge overlooking the cloakroom at the Karachi Golf Club to give his legs a rest.

“They’re a bit stiff,” he said as he stretched them out after a four-under 68 that saw him displace his long-time rival Shabbir Iqbal atop the leaderboard heading into Sunday’s final round at the CNS Open Golf Championship.

Unlike Shabbir, who isn’t speaking to reporters until his self-imposed embargo till the end of the final round of the CNS Open Golf Championship, Matloob has no qualms. Indeed, he loves talking. Not just about golf but other things as well.

Matloob drove all the way from Lahore with nine other golfers to take part in the tournament. “It was a good journey … We stopped at restaurants on the way to eat and rest. We had a good time on the road,” he told Dawn.

He’s having a good time at the course too. After scores of 69 each in the first two rounds, he now sits at 10-under 206, a shot clear of overnight leader Shabbir (71) and three ahead of Ahmed Baig (70).

Ahmed was also on the travelling party from Lahore. The youngster, who’s risen quickly to make his name as one of Pakistan’s top golfers, will on Sunday attempt to dethrone his mentor Matloob, who won the title in 2019 before last year’s event was cancelled due to Covid-19.

“We travel together, we eat together, we’re staying in the same hotel and those things don’t change when we’re fighting for the title,” Ahmed told Dawn. “Tomorrow, he will be playing his game and I’ll be playing mine and tonight there is going to be no talk about golf.”

Events in Karachi are the ones which Pakistan’s professional golfers look forward to the most. The CNS Open is one of them and with a total prize purse of Rs8.5million this year, it’s worth all the practice and time, and the travel.

“These are the ones you want to win really,” adds Matloob.

And he’s in a good position to do that, just like two years ago when he entered the final round with a stroke’s lead before clinching the title in a playoff.

“Even if it’s a stroke’s lead, it’s still an advantage to hold onto,” said Ahmed. “For me, I’ll be going in with the aim of going bogey-free through the final round.”

Mohammad Munir (67) is also in contention, a stroke adrift of Ahmed in fourth on 210, with first-day leader Waheed Baloch (73) and Mohammad Nazir (72) in a share of fifth at 211.

Mohammad Alam’s got the day’s best score of 66 and is a stroke further adrift.

Omar Khalid (76) is joint-top in the amateurs’ competition for the second straight day, this time tied with Arsalan Shikoh Khan (74) at 10-over 226. Saim Shazli (74), Omar Shikoh Khan (79) and Lt Col Ayub Khan (81) are tied for second place at 231.

Following the tournament’s first hole-in-one by Afsar Ali on Friday, there was another on Saturday when Qazi Amir Hussain achieved the feat in the first round of the senior amateurs’ competition in the afternoon.

The leading professionals had an early morning with Matloob, Shabbir and Waheed teeing off just 10 minutes past sunrise.

Matloob sank five birdies as Shabbir wilted, bogeying his last three holes to relinquish the lead.

Waheed made a promising start with a birdie on his first hole but then had four bogeys with two birdies in between to fell off the pace but Munir seized the initiative, getting six birdies to close the gap at the top.

Ahmed bogeyed three holes but his five birdies meant he will be in the leader flight on the final day.

That will be the last professional flight to tee off on Sunday but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be another early morning for him, Matloob or Shabbir.

“The routine doesn’t change,” said Ahmed. “We’ll be out on the course early, do some practice because it will be a race to the finish.”

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2021