KARACHI: The CNS-Pakistan Golf Championship, which would be one of the country’s richest sporting events, will be held at the Karachi Golf Club (KGC) in December as an Asian Tour event with a prize pool of US$500,000.
On Friday, a senior KGC official confirmed to The News that the tour has added the CNS-Pakistan Open to its schedule, which will run from December 1-4.
The CNS-Pakistan Open will be the country’s first appearance on the Asian Tour since the US$300,000 UMA-CNS Open, which was held at the KGC in 2018.
For the first time in four years, Pakistan will be back on the Asian Tour, with the largest prize pool in the country’s history. The prize money will be close to Rs100 million at the current exchange rate, making it the most lucrative sporting event in Pakistan’s history.
“It’s fantastic news that the CNS-Pakistan will be held at KGC in December with a prize pool of $500,000,” stated Commodore Ghazanfar Abbas, KGC’s Chief Operating Officer.
Given the higher prize pool, the CNS-Pakistan Open is likely to attract Asia’s best players.
Commodore Ghazanfar claims that efforts to bring Pakistan back on track were made on the orders of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi.
Admiral Niazi, an enthusiastic golfer, declared at last year’s CNS Open prize distribution ceremony that the tournament will be part of the Asian Tour in 2022.
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The CNS-Pakistan Open will be part of a week-long golfing festival that will take place from November 28 to December 4 and will include a Pro-Am tournament before the main event.
Tirawat Kaewsiribandit of Thailand won the Asian Tour championship at KGC in 2018.
The four-day UMA-CNS Open competition featured professionals from 18 countries, including at least five former Asian Tour winners. India, Singapore, the United States, Austria, Spain, Serbia, Australia, England, Argentina, South Africa, and Venezuela were among the participants.
Pakistan was admitted into the former Asian circuit in 1989. The event was held at KGC, where Filipino sensation Frankie Minoza was crowned champion.
In 2006 and 2007, Pakistan hosted back-to-back Asian Tour events at KGC. Chris Rodgers of England won the 2006 event ahead of Jeev Milkha Singh and Amandeep Johl of India. Airil Rizman of Malaysia won his first Asian Tour championship by two strokes over Scott Hend of Australia in 2007.
After Taimur Hussain’s victory at the 1998 Myanmar Open, Pakistan has only produced one Asian Tour winner. Muhammad Munir of Islamabad came close in 2018, but had to settle for third place behind two Thai players.
