Shabbir shows his enduring class in DHA Open triumph.

KARACHI -- Shabbir Iqbal has built his reputation as Pakistan's top golfer with some sensational come-from-behind victories over the years.

Add this year's DHA Open Golf Championship to that list as well.

In a mesmerising show of his enduring class during Sunday's final round, Shabbir made up an nine-stroke deficit to force a three-way playoff for the title which he eventually won.

He had been so good that even when the championship went to a playoff, it seemed the title was a given for him. Even if it went to three holes.

Shabbir was fighting against Mohammad Tariq, the leader at the end of the second-round, and Mohammad Nazir. Nazir was eliminated after the first before Shabbir and Tariq matched each other on the second. He sealed the title in style, with a birdie on the third.

At the first two tournaments at the turn of this year, Shabbir had been second-best. On both those occasions he had a lesser deficit to recover from in the final rounds: four strokes in the Rashid D. Habib Memorial Tournament and just one in the CAS Open.

Nine strokes then seemed too much of a gap to bridge. Not for Shabbir though, who struck seven birdies in a 66 to finish level on two-under 214 with Tariq (75) and Nazir (68).

Tariq had suffered a heartbreaking playoff loss to Matloob Ahmed at the CNS Open last year and he seemed to be on course for his first title in Karachi with a steady showing on the first seven holes in which there was a birdie on the fifth.

But things began to unravel for him when he double-bogeyed the eighth and at the end of the...