Els struggles in Doha
Red-hot favourite Ernie Els was still searching for his first birdie after nine holes of the Qatar Masters in Doha today – and already had a lot of catching up to do.
World number three Els, the only player in the top 50 taking part and winner of the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday, began with a bogey six and followed it with eight pars to be six adrift of pacesetters Richard Green, Henrik Stenson and Pierre Fulke.
The South African pulled his second shot to the 589-yard opener and then compounded the error by three-putting.
He had a chance to get back to level par on the long ninth, but backed off from his birdie attempt after being distracted by a photographer and then just missed from 20 feet.
At 52nd in the rankings Australian left-hander Green is the second highest-ranked player in the 150-strong field and his goal is to move back into the top 50 to secure a debut in next month’s US Masters.
He did not drop a stroke all day, but was one behind Stenson until the Swede three-putted the short eighth, his 17th.
Stenson’s compatriot Fulke, a member of the 2002 Ryder Cup team at The Belfry, then made it a three-way tie with five birdies in his first eight holes after starting on the back nine and, after bogeying the long 18th, another on the first.
One bad drive had earlier led to Europe’s new Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam tumbling off the leaderboard.
On a course where he was runner-up in 2000, Woosnam covered his first 14 holes in four under to be only one shot off the pace.
But then he hooked into the desert scrub and ran up a triple bogey seven.
The ball was lying amongst rocks and taking a penalty drop would have meant going back 50 yards and taking the green of the long par four out of range.
So the 47-year-old former world number one decided to have a go, but instead of hitting the ball his club connected with a rock.
It did not improve things and at a second look Woosnam opted for the drop and took his punishment. In the three remaining holes he had two bogeys and a birdie for a level par 72.
“I got absolutely stuffed,” said Woosnam. “It was 50-50 whether I got the ball, but I was just trying to advance it.”
Dubliner Paul McGinley, the only member of last September’s Ryder Cup team present, did not have a bogey, but birdied only the par five first for a one under 71.
“Any round without a bogey you’ve got to be happy, especially with rough as thick as this, but I kept hitting it to 20 or 30 feet rather than inside 10 feet,” commented McGinley.
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