Karachi
The CNS-Pakistan Golf Championship, one of the richest sports competitions in the history of the country, will be held in December at Karachi Golf Club (KGC) as an Asian Tour competition with a prize money of US 500 500,000. .
A senior KGC official confirmed this. News On Friday, the tour added CNS-Pakistan Open to its calendar and the event will take place from December 1 to 4.
The CNS-Pakistan Open will mark the country’s return to the Asian Tour for the first time since 2018, when the US $ 300,000 UMA-CNS Open was held at KGC.
Pakistan will once again be on the Asian Tour map for the first time in four years with the largest prize basket in the country’s history. At current exchange rates, the prize money will be close to Rs 100 million, making it one of the most lucrative sports events in Pakistan’s history.
KGC Chief Operating Officer Commodore Ghazanfar Abbas said, “It is great news that CNS-Pakistan will be played at KGC in December with a prize money of 500 500,000.”
Considering the increased prize wallet, it is ex-pected that Asia’s top professionals will participate in the CNS-Pakistan Open.
According to Commodore Ghazanfar, on the in-structions of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muham-mad Amjad Khan Niazi, efforts were made to bring Pakistan back on the Asian tour map.
Admiral Niazi, an avid golfer, announced at the CNS Open awards ceremony last year that the 2022 edition of the tournament would be part of the Asian Tour.
According to the plan, the CNS-Pakistan Open will be part of a week-long golf festival from No-vember 28 to December 4, which will include a Pro-Am tournament before the main championship.
In 2018, Thailand’s Terawat Kavisari Bandit won the Asian Tour title at KGC. The four-day UMA-CNS Open Championship featured professionals from 18 countries and at least five former Asian Tour winners. The players were from India, Singapore, USA, Austria, Spain, Serbia, Australia, England, Argentina, South Africa and Venezuela.
This was in 1989 when Pakistan became part of the old Asian circuit. The event was held at KGC in which Filipino star Frankie Menoza won the title.
Prior to 2018, Pakistan hosted back-to-back Asian Tour events at KGC in 2006 and 2007. Eng-land’s Chris Rogers won the 2006 event ahead of India’s Geo Malkha Singh and Amandeep Johal. Earl Razman of Malaysia won his first Asian Tour title in 2007 by defeating Scotland of Australia by two strokes.
Following the victory of Timur Hussain in the 1998 Myanmar Open, Pakistan has produced only one Asian Tour winner in the past. In 2018, Mu-hammad Munir of Islamabad came close but he had to compete for the third position behind two Thai players.—Agencies