KARACHI: Pakistan Navy’s Shabbir Iqbal and Imdad Hussain from Lahore Gymkhana dominated day one of the 13th Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Open Golf Championship, that started here at the Karachi Golf Club (KGC) on Friday.

Shabbir is the defending champion of the event. Both he and Imdad played gross 68, 4 under par, in the professionals’ category. They are being desperately chased by brothers Javed Inayat and Saleem Inayat of KGC and Ansar Mahmood of Pakistan Navy with score gross 70, 2 under par.

There is a handsome prize money purse of 2.2 million rupees for the professionals and lucrative prizes for all the other categories. The competition started in perfect weather with the partially cloudy sky presenting ideal conditions for the golfers.

Around 100 professionals and 105 amateurs teed off from the Red and Yellow Courses at the KGC. The 54 holes, three-day championship is a regular feature of the Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF)’s annual calendar.

Renowned players from 37 golf clubs from all over Pakistan have entered this year’s tournament. Shabbir Iqbal had also won the CNS Open Golf event in 2007.

Imdad Hussain carded eight birdies yesterday with four bogeys to complete the first round whereas Shabbir Iqbal remained consistent with five bidies and only a single bogey on hole No.11.

Day two today (Saturday) will see a host of players in action. Along with the professionals and amateurs, veterans and juniors will be contesting in 9-hole and 18-hole matches, respectively.