LAHORE: The National Amateur Golf Championships are headed for a grandstand finish with a thrilling race to glory in store after Salman Jahangir moved level with overnight leader Shoaib Ahmed atop the leaderboard following a tense third round on Friday.

Salman, who helped Pakistan ‘A’ bag titles on each of the two opening days and was part of another team victory on Friday, fired two-over 74 at the Lahore Gymkhana to ensure he and Shoaib will be bunched together at the start of the final round.

Having won the first-day event for the J.R. Jayawardene Trophy and followed it by winning the two-round International Team Match alongside Qasim Ali Khan, Salman was part of the Punjab Golf Association Team that won the Inter-Association Team Match.

Alongside him were Qasim, Hussain Hamid and Damil Ataullah as they finished ahead of the Federal Golf Association team comprising Umair Saleem, Ahmad Zafar Hayat, Umer Khokhar and Abbas Naqvi.

But on Saturday, Salman will set his sights on the big prize after he took advantage of Shoaib slipping to a third-round 77 to grab a share of the lead at five-over 221.

Salman fired three birdies and had two bogies with a triple bogey on the sixth hole preventing him from going clear at the top. By contrast, Shoaib — who had been a joint-leader with Nouman Ilyas after the opening round before moving three shots in front on Thursday — had just one birdie to show for his efforts on a day where he faltered to a double bogey and four bogeys.

But the contest for the title isn’t going to be between just the two of them with Ahmed Zafar (25) a stroke adrift while Sameer Iftikhar, who returned an impressive two-under 70, is on 224. Sameer, who went bogey-free, is a stroke in front of Sri Lankan Chalitha Pushpika (73) and Egypt’s Dean Naime (72).

The three-round ladies competition also looks to go down the wire on Saturday with Humna Amjad storming to the top with a two-round aggregate of 152, just one shot ahead of overnight leader Parkha Ijaz. Aania Farooq is nine strokes off the lead with Suneya Osama (166), Dania Syed (167) and Rimsha Ijaz (170) further off the pace.

Humna and Dania, meanwhile, combined to help the Pakistan ‘A’ Team win the International Ladies Match.

The Senior Amateurs contest was wrapped up on Friday with Sardar Murad Khan (78) clinching the title with a three-round aggregate of 231, finishing eight strokes in front of Col Mohammad Shafi while Azfar Hassan took third place.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2023