Pablo Larrazabal took full advantage of the calm morning conditions to post an eight under par round of 64 at Doha Golf Club and open a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
The Spaniard, who secured his sixth DP World Tour title at the MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood a fortnight ago, started on the tenth hole and made the turn in 30, six under par, before adding two more birdies on the way in to set the target at eight under.
That first round total proved to be unassailable and the 38-year-old leads from Denmark’s Marcus Helligkilde, Frenchman Romain Langasque, Poland’s Adrian Meronk and Shubhankar Sharma, of India on six under par.
“I’m very pleased, I played very solid,” said Larrazabal. “I missed only a couple of shots. I did an up and down there on the last green which I missed, but happy days. It’s been a couple of nice weeks. I missed the cut last week but I played very solid golf and today we keep doing the job.
“The conditions are great. When you come to a golf course that they’ve really changed, and they’ve not only changed it for us, they’ve changed for this course for amateur golf. I’m sure the members here enjoy it a lot more and obviously there are a lot more pin positions for us. I think they did a great job and it’s looking magnificent.
“It’s not nice when you have your alarm at 4:00am, but it’s all about going to bed early. I went to bed at 9:00am, so I got my seven hours. The temperature was nice this morning but now it’s boiling. It’s probably 35 or 36 degrees right now, so I kept drinking a lot of water and making birdies.”
Helligkilde, who topped the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca Rankings last year, carded four birdies in his final six holes to join that group in a tie for second, with two players – Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson and Englishman Robert Rock – a shot further back in a tie for sixth place on five under par. Defending champion Antoine Rozner, who won his second DP World Tour title at Education City Golf Club last year, is among a group of seven players a shot further back in a tie for eighth place.
That list also includes the big-hitting Wilco Nienaber, who could be one to watch in the second round after gaining 1.31 strokes off the tee while also ranking first in driving distance (337 yards) and 12th in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee, but he will need to improve his driving accuracy after finishing the first round 136th.
