59th National Amateur Golf Championship tees off Thursday

59th National Amateur Golf Championship tees off Thursday.

ISLAMABAD (APP) – The four-day 59th National Amateur Golf Championship will commence on Thursday at Islamabad Golf Club where top-notch golfers from across the country will showcase their skills in various categories.

“This championship is the most prestigious golfing event of the country wherein top Amateur golfers of Pakistan participate in various categories in a bid to claim National Amateur Champion title,” Dr. Ali Haider, the tournament director told media at a news briefing.

The categories include Amateurs Men – handicap 7 & below, Senior Amateurs Men – handicap 12 & below (Age 55 & above) and Amateur Ladies – handicap 24 & below).

Ali said that tor senior amateurs the championship would be considered as stage-I trials for the selection of Pakistan team, that would represent the country in APGC Senior Amateur Championship 2020, later this year.

“Furthermore Inter-Association Match will also be held concurrently with the main championship in the Amateur’s Men Senior Amateurs’ Men categories.

“And more importantly Sri-Lankan golf team will chip in the main championship (Individual Category), International Team Trophy and J.R. Jayewardene Team Trophy, being played concurrently with the main championship,” he added.

“It is a great honour and privilege for the PGF in collaboration with Federal Golf Association and Islamabad Club Golf Club (ICGC) to host this mega event,” said Ali, who is also Joint Secretary of PGF.

According to Ali in Amateurs category (men) around 100 golfers, in Senior Amateurs (men) 50 golfers and in Amateur Ladies category 25 golfers were expected to participate.

Taimoor Khan is defending champion in Amateur Men category, while in Amateur Ladies category Rimsha Ijaz will be defending the title.

Similarly, Col. (Retd) Rustam Ali Chatta will defend his title in Senior Amateurs and Team Punjab Golf Association will defend their title in Inter-Association Team Match event.

“The PGF is the title sponsor of the event and is proud to host the event in partnership with Islamabad club and PepsiCo as cosponsors.

The management of Islamabad Club is also playing a promising role in partnership with PGF to organize the event in a befitting manner,” he said.

Meanwhile, PGF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with E2E Solution Providers to embark on a journey to add the latest software technology to the game of golf in Pakistan.

In this regard the PGF in partnership with E2E Solution Providers is introducing a “GemGolfers” software suite of golf technology, which is a mobile app for iOS /Android devices and backed by a powerful web-based application for managing a tournament.

As per agreement all the PGF calendar tournaments will be powered by “PGF GemGolfers” and it will be offering live leaderboards for participants and viewers so they can follow their scores or their favourite players, featuring in different formats in all tournaments.