Steady Nouman leads at halfway point of National Amateurs

PESHAWAR: A second successive round of one-under 71 sent Nouman Ilyas to the top of the National Amateur Ranking Golf Championship leaderboard at the end of round two the PAF Golf Course here on Friday.

Nouman’s consistency saw him end the day with a five-stroke lead over overnight leader Mohammad Shoaib, who is at three-over 147 after he could only return a card of 78.

Salman Jahangir (78) and Saim Shazli (77) will enter the third round six shots adrift at 149 and are a shot ahead of defending champion Omar Khalid (76) and Qasim Ali Khan (77).

Hamza Khattak (71) is placed at 151, one ahead of Hamza Khan (78) and Laraib-ur-Rehman (74). Yashal Shah (76) is at 153.

The exploits of Saim, Omar, Hamza Khan and Yashal saw Sindh Golf Association take the team event title. With the three best scores taken into account, Sindh finished on 449, ahead of Punjab (453) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (457).

Col Waqar Ahmed’s 75 saw him take the lead in the senior amateurs’ contest, which began on Friday. He is two strokes ahead of Tariq Mehmood while Mohammad Amir Mir (80) is in third place with two rounds to go.

A quartet of golfers — Zakir Hussain, Col Asif Mehdi, Haji Ishaq and Col Masood Malik — were tied in third place at 81.

The ladies’ contest also began on Friday with Hamna Amjad’s 74 seeing her take a two-stroke lead over top-ranked Parkha Ejaz. Parkha’s sister Rimsha is third at 77.

Abiha Syed is fourth at 81, a shot ahead of Suneyah Osama, Aania Farooq Syed, and Daniah Syed.