When Aania Farooq had a forgettable second round of 85 at the 2nd SGA Ladies Amateur Golf Championship on Saturday, it seemed that the Karachi girl won’t be able to successfully defend her title.

After all, her chief rival, 15-year-old Hamna Amjad, a former national champion, had catapulted herself to the top of the leader-board with a superb 78 that gave her a two-shot advantage going into the final round of the three-day championship here at the Karachi Golf Club.

But in the end on Sunday afternoon, the more experienced Aanya reigned supreme to win the prestigious title for a second year in a row by a solitary stroke.

It all came down to the last hole – the challenging par-14 18th hole on the Yellow course – where Aanya prevailed over her spirited opponent.

Her cause was helped by lady luck as her opponent was dogged by a couple of triple bogies. But despite those two major blemishes, it was heartening to see that the young Hamna still managed to finish the final round with a score of 80.

“There was a bit of bad luck for me on the 6th hole,” Hamna said about the par-4 6thon the Red course (front nine). “I hit my tee shot and everybody thought that it had gone into the water hazard on the left. So I hit my third shot but later we found out that my first ball was safe. I went on to have a triple bogey on that hole.”

Hamna’s other triple bogey was on Yellow’s par-5 10th where she hooked her second shot from the rough into the hazard.

Meanwhile, Aania gave her best when it mattered most. She carded an impressive 77 in the last round for an aggregate of 243 to beat Hamna (244) by one stroke. Karachi’s Daniah Syed finished third with an aggregate of 250.

In category B, Ayesha Fauzan won the gross title with a margin of three strokes. Abeeha Hanin Syed was the runner-up.

In category C, Syeda Iman Ali Shah won the title ahead of Shabana Waheed and Shabana Siddiqui.

MPA Dr Seema Zia was the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony of the championship which was sponsored by Sindh Golf Association.

Speaking at the occasion, Fawzia Naqvi, Lady Captain KGC, underlined the fact that ladies golf was on the rise in Pakistan. She hailed the role of Pakistan Golf Federation, SGA, KGC as well as of Dr Asma Shami, Chairperson Ladies Golf (PGF) for her tireless efforts towards the promotion of ladies’ golf in the country. Also present at the occasion were Asad I.A Khan, President SGA, Cmdre Ghazanfar Abbas, COO KGC, Rizwan Feroz, Captain KGC and Cmdre Zafar Mehmood, Chief Referee among others.

Courtesy The News