Siddikur steady as golf returns to Pak

Siddikur Rahman settled for a one-under-71 on the opening day of the UMA CNS Open Championship yesterday as golf returned to Pakistan after an 11-year absence.

The two-time Asian Tour winner from Bangladesh hit the only birdie of his first round on the 11th hole at the Karachi Golf Club to share the joint 19th position in this 300,000-dollar event.

The 33-year-old, who is currently in 101st position on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with an earning of only 26,592 dollars this year, will likely want to improve his position in Karachi as the many of the big name Asian golfers will be missing from the 132-golfer field.

Among the more prominent ones featuring in Karachi are Mardan Mamat of Singapore, Marcus Both of Australia and Digvijay Singh of India while some of the best of the region are now participating in the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.

Siddikur had played in that event four or five years ago when he was in good form, but with only the top ten players of the Asian Tour ranking eligible to take part in this year's event, there was no chance for the Bangladeshi golfing trailblazer to play in that 7-million-dollar event.