Denison belies amateur status
Danny Denison belied his status as the field’s sole amateur with a brilliant opening round at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in Doha.
The Englishman was one shot behind clubhouse leader Ricardo Gonzalez, who picked up where he left off in Abu Dhabi last week by shooting a six-under-par round of 66.
Denison, the 20-year-old from Howley Hall in Yorkshire, used his local knowledge to compile his round and pressurise the Argentinian, who finished fourth in the UAE.
He had won the Qatar Open Golf Championship, held at the Doha Golf Course, in December, which gave him entry into the Qatar Masters.
And he has left even world number two Vijay Singh trailing in his wake with the Fijian struggling at one over.
Denison hit six birdies and just the one bogey – at the last – in his round, which left him level with Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol and Richard Finch, of England, at five under.
If David Howell was looking for a sign that alterations to his game in the past week would bring an immediate improvement, then he was out of luck.
The Swindon man, who tops the European Order of Merit but has made a poor start to the new calendar year, shot two birdies early on but then took a triple bogey at the par-four 15th.
Two birdies helped him to one under before dropped shots at the fifth and ninth left him one over for the day.
Howell’s fellow countryman Lee Westwood and Ireland’s Paul McGinley carded three-under-par rounds of 69 to leave themselves handily placed.
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