Martin Kaymer of Germany walks on the greens during the second round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters Golf tournament at the Doha Golf Club, yesterday. Marcus Fraser of Australia watches the ball during the second round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. (BOTTOM) Ricardo Santos of Portugal watches the ball during the second round action at DGC.
by Armstrong Vas
Doha: There is a four-way tie atop the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters leaderboard at the end of the second round of the $2.5m European tour event at the Doha Golf Club.
Overnight leader Ricardo Santos, Ryder Cup heroes Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer besides Marcus Fraser all shot nine-under to share the lead at the Peter Harradine designed course.
Kaymer and Fraser each shot 67 to post the clubhouse lead at nine-under and were later joined by first-round leader Santos, who signed with a score of 70, and Garcia.
Former US Open champion Michael Campbell and four others were in joint second spot.
George Coetzee (67), Felipe Aguilar (67), Campbell (68), Thorbjorn Olesen (68) and Gary Lockerbie (69) all share fifth place a shot back.
World No. 4 Justin Rose, the top-ranked player in the field, carded a 71 to share 20th place at five-under, one ahead of World No.5 Louis Oosthuizen, who signed for a 69.
American star Jason Dufner (70), the World No. 11, was a further shot back at three-under and will be among many players chasing Ryder Cup heroes Garcia and Kaymer in the third round today.
On a calm day, in contrast to the windy conditions which golfers had experienced at the course in last few editions, it was Garcia who stole the show.
The Spanish legend shot a bogey-free six-under-par 66 to share the halfway lead.
The 33-year-old lit up the Doha Golf Club with six birdies to join a tightly packed leaderboard.
Garcia birdied holes four, seven, nine, 10, 12 and 16 as he bids to finally get his hands on the Mother of Pearl Trophy in his eighth appearance in Doha.
The Spaniard has posted four top-10 finishes in his last five appearances, including a share of fifth last February.
“I start my year here most of the time, so that shows you how much I enjoy it here and how much I like it. It would be nice to be able to get a win, but it’s already nice to shoot some good rounds to start with,” said Garcia, a 10-time European Tour winner who claimed his eighth US PGA Tour title last August.
“Today was nice. I definitely feel like I played a little bit better than yesterday. I hit a good amount of good shots. I gave myself a lot of good chances for birdies, hit some good putts that didn’t go in and then made some nice ones, too. So overall, I can’t be disappointed,” he added.
Earlier, Santos started from where he left off on Wednesday. He kicked off proceedings yesterday with five birdies but at the back nine his scorecard had three bogeys.
In the end, the Portuguese finished the day with a score of 70 at two-under to finish the second round at a net score of 135.
“I feel really well today, I played quite well also. Struck the ball very well today. I just miss a few shots but still happy with the round. I’m happy with 2-under this afternoon,” said Santos.
“I just went to play my game the best I can, and then we’ll see. I just want to enjoy the weekend<” he added.
But defending champion Paul Lawrie of Scotland was not so lucky. The Scot who won here for the first time in 1999 failed to make the cut.
He started with a flourish with birdies on the first, third and fourth holes but struggled on the back nine. He had a bogey on the 12th hole and compounded his miseries with a double bogey on the 15th.
“Another shocking day with the putter 34 putts for 72 hit it awesome going to miss the cut by one. Unbelievable,” tweeted Lawrie, after missing the cut.
Others who failed to make the cut were India’s Jeev Milka Singh and Retief Goosen of South Africa, winner here in 2007.
Colin Montgomerie of Scotland and Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain were the other prominent golfers who failed to qualify for the third round. But reigning Open Champion Ernie Els rode his luck in Qatar. The four-time Major winner, just made the cut at one-under with a score of 71.
The Peninsula
