Ashfaq hits the front at Sindh Open.

KARACHI -- At his home course, not even a double bogey stood in the way of Mohammad Ashfaq and the lead.

With the last round of the Sindh Open Golf Championship at the Airmen Golf Course to come, Ashfaq climbed to the top of the professionals' leaderboard on Saturday with his second-round 70 giving him the sole lead at three-under 141.

On Sunday, he faces a race to the finish with twice defending champion Shabbir Iqbal, the winner of the CNS Open last week who showed ominous form with a 68 to rebound from an opening round of 74 and move to a shot off the lead.

Shahbaz Masih, the joint-leader after Friday's opening round, was two strokes further adrift after he managed a 75. He is two shots ahead of Misal Khan, who fired the day's best round of 66, and Akber Mehroz, who shot 73 for a second successive day.

But it was Ashfaq's comeback from a double-bogey on the par-4 seventh hole that was the day's talking point. Comfortable in known settings, he'd shot birdies on the second and third holes before getting consecutive birdies following the seventh. A birdie on the 16th then cancelled out a bogey on the 12th and ensured he finished on two-under for the round.

Shabbir made a rip-roaring start on Saturday as he bids to complete a second successful title defence in a row. He reeled off four successive birdies from the second hole and got another on the ninth after a bogey on the seventh. Another birdie followed...