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| January 28, 2006 | Saturday | Zilhaj 27, 1426 |
Swede Stenson keeps firing
DOHA, Jan 27: Sweden’s Henrik Stenson moved clear of the field at the two million dollar Qatar Masters with a second round 68 at the Doha Golf Club on Friday.
The Sharjah-based Stenson, who was in joint lead with Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez on 66 after the first round, produced another good display on Friday to take a two-shot lead over England’s Nick Dougherty to put himself in contention for his first title in the Gulf.
The 29-year-old Stenson has played the bridesmaid role to perfection on the European Tour’s middle-east leg, finishing second to Ernie Els in Qatar last year and again ending up as runner up at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Golf Championship on Sunday.
He also narrowly missed the title after a playoff with Aussie Mark Hensby at his home event - the Scandinavian Masters - and has four third place finishes in all, the most notable of them being when he took third place behind Tiger Woods and John Daly at the World Championships of Golf last year.
Stenson had birdies on the fourth, sixth, eighth, 13th and 18th holes but dropped a shot at the 17th but that was still enough to give him a two-shot cushion after the morning group finished their second round.
Dougherty, who was tied 11th at the end of the first round after a 69 shot a 67 on Friday after a bogey-free round.
The 23-year-old, a protege of Nick Faldo, picked up shots on the third, seventh, 10th, 16th and 17th holes by playing solid golf like on Thursday where he had shot a bogey-free 69.
Meanwhile, two players scored hole-in-ones with Thai Thongchai Jaidee and Ireland’s Peter Lawrie producing the feat at the same hole - the par three 215 yard third.
Leading scores:
134 - Henrik Stenson 66-68
135 - Ricardo Gonzalez 66-69
136 - Nick Dougherty 69-67, Richard Finch 68-68
137 - Prayad Marksaeng 70-67
138 - Niclas Fasth 68-70
139 - Thongchai Jaidee 70-69, Thomas Bjorn 71-68, Darren Fichardt 67-72, Maarten Lafeber 71-68, Graeme Storm 68-71, Paul McGinley 69-70, Paul Broadhurst 72- 67
140 - Richard Sterne 72-68, Jean van de Velde 69-71, Robert Karlsson 71-69, Thammanoon Srirot 71-69, Marcel Siem 69-71, David Lynn 70-70, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 68-72, Joakim Backstrom 71-69
Rusty Wood upstaged
LA JOLLA (California): Thomas Levet seized a share of the first-round lead alongside Brandt Jobe Thursday at the Buick Invitational, where Tiger Woods showed signs of rust in his first start of the year.
The nine players tied for second, one stroke behind the leaders, all played on the North Course.
The best round of the day on the South Course was posted by Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik, who shot a five-under 67.
Out of 23 golfers at five-under or better, he was the only one that played on the South Course, which will host the US Open in 2008.
South Africa’s Tim Clark had the next best score on the South with a four-under 68.
World number one Woods shot a one-under 71 on the North Course. At one point, was as low as three-under but three consecutive bogeys on his 13th, 14th and 15th holes dropped him to even-par.
Leading first-round scores:
65 - Brandt Jobe, Thomas Levet
66 - Stuart Appleby, Craig Barlow, Charley Hoffman, Ryuji Imada, Kent Jones, Jerry Kelly, Skip Kendall, Brett Quigley, Nick Watney
67 - Shane Bertsch, Jonathan Byrd, Tom Byrum, Chris Couch, Nathan Green, Jonathan Kaye, Steve Lowery, Billy Mayfair, Jesper Parnevik, Joey Sindelar, Kevin Stadler, Nicholas Thompson
68 - Henrik Bjornstad, Greg Chalmers), KJ Choi, Tim Clark, Brian Davis, Daisuke Maruyama)
69 - Sergio Garcia, Bernhard Langer
70 - Arjun Atwal, Carlos Franco, Rod Pampling, Rory Sabbatini, Camilo Villegas
71 - Daniel Chopra, David McKenzie, John Senden, Tiger Woods
72 - Shigeki Maruyama, Geoff Ogilvy
73 - Aaron Baddeley, Steven Bowditch, Mathew Goggin, Craig Perks)
74 - Mathias Gronberg, Jose Maria Olazabal, Greg Owen, Hidemichi Tanaka
75 - Alex Cejka, Luke Donald, Carl Pettersson
76 - Trevor Immelman Jon Mills
77 - Stephen Ames
78 - Stephen Leaney.—Agencies
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