Texas Scramble challenge match

A star-studded team of Graeme McDowell, Charley Hull and Hamza Amin reigned victorious at today’s RUMANZA Inaugural Challenge Match – celebrating the opening of Pakistan’s 1st signature golf course, the Rumanza Golf & Country Club – and a new era of golfing excellence in Pakistan.

Result

We witnessed an extraordinary Texas Scramble challenge match earlier today with Team Hull (Charley Hull, Graeme McDowell and Humza Amin) shooting an impressive 14-under par to take the win ahead of Team Rafa (Rafa Cabrera Bello, Ahmed Baig and Humna Amjed).

Flanked by a large crowd of fans, the players made their way around Sir Nick Faldo’s latest architectural masterpiece, with fireworks coming early on in the 7,533-yard, par-72 RUMANZA course.

“We got off to a fast start with an eagle on Two. We were very fortunate to have Charley driving the ball extremely well, allowing us to go into some par-5’s with short irons. Team Rafa and his crew kept it close, and it was nice to come up the last with a 1-shot lead to see what we could do. It was a lot of fun.” commented Graeme McDowell

Pro-Am

The action on-course teed off with a shotgun start Pro-Am competition featuring 60 players – the first tournament ever played at the RUMANZA Golf and Country Club.

Reigning victorious was the four-ball led by professionals Khalid Khan and Shahid Javed Khan and made up of Mr. Usman Akram and Mrs. Lindsay Lady Faldo who carded a score of 51 points.

About

The Rumanza Golf Course was opened up for golfing action over the weekend through an exciting international event labelled as the Rumanza Inaugural and the international stars who illuminated the golf course with their presence included six times major winner Sir Nick Faldo and also there was 2010 United States Open champion and four times PGA Tour winner Graeme Mcdowell from Northern Ireland. Another celebrity golfer competing alongside was 2021 Spanish Open winner and European Ryder Cup star Rafa Cabrera from Spain. To add feminine colour was the six times European Tour winner Charlie Hull whose mere presence on the golf course was an athletic site and she turned out to be an inspiration for the golfing fans and in particular golf playing women of Pakistan, many of whom were there for coaching tips and intimate closeness.

Graeme added: “One of things I’ve felt this week is the passion and the intensity for wanting success in Pakistan golf. What DHA Multan has done in creating the first world-class facility here in Pakistan is that it gives these players the opportunity to play on the type of course that they can expect to see on the Tours. Having had the chance to spend time with the young talent here in Pakistan, it’s only a matter of time until these guys move to the next level.”

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Result
Graeme up his opening three-under 68 with a three-over 74 that left him on level par and not enough to make the -2 cut.

Graeme holed one of the longest putts of his career on Day 1 — a monster 88-footer on the short par four 17th, which left him with a three-under 68 that left him tied 18th, just three shots off the lead.

“I mean, obviously watching it on TV, heard the guys talking about it, this is a quite the show here, quite the party and quite the atmosphere,” Graeme said when explaining why he’s returned to the event. “I mean, we played early this morning, so I got to see 16 fairly benign. We’ll play it tomorrow afternoon a little later on when I’m sure there will be a few beverages starting to flow, and the atmosphere should be a lot of fun.

“But the golf course is sensational. I’m not sure I’ve seen a better-conditioned golf course than this one and it’s playing firm and fast, which kind of suits my game a little bit. The greens are fantastic and it’s been one of those weeks where I’m trying to wonder why it’s been 16 years since I’ve been here.”

The 2010 US Open champion made his first birdie of the day when he knocked in a 12-footer in the amphitheatre that is the par-three 16th, which was well below its 20,000 capacity at 10.30am.

But he was soon whipping up a storm at the driveable 348-yard 17th, where he drove into a fairway bunker, splashed out to 88 feet and holed the unlikely birdie putt – his longest on record on the PGA Tour since he made one from 75 feet in the first round of the 2014 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

“This might be the most ridiculous three I ever made in my life,” Graeme said. “I drove it in the right-hand fairway bunker, and I mean this putt is just greased lightning. It’s a marble staircase down there.

“I would have probably paid you about a thousand bucks for a four out of that right bunker after my tee shot, but three is outrageous. A lot of fun though.

“And to birdie 16 and 17, 16 my first time playing it in the kind of stadium like that was fun and, like I say, I look forward to getting back out tomorrow.”

Graeme bogeyed the 18th but then hit a 193-yard approach to five feet at the first to get back to two-under before two-putting for another birdie at the par-five third.

Ranked 358th in the world, he’s missed 26 of 41 cuts (63 per cent) since he won the Saudi International in 2020 and he’s trying to ease the pressure on his shoulders as he is exempt for winning the 2019 Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship runs out at the end of this season.

“For me it’s just day by day at the minute,” Graeme said. “I’m just really trying to layer good days on good days. And it’s been a really tough 18 months, and I’m really just trying to keep things simple, just work hard, have good days, hopefully, those will add up to being in contention, and I’ll give myself some chances to win.

“That’s really just the goal at the minute is just to try and be as patient as I can.”

“This is a quite the show here, quite the party and quite the atmosphere.”

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