DOHA – Birthday boy Retief Goosen shot a three under-par 69 to take a one shot clubhouse lead midway through the first round of the 2.5 million dollar Qatar Masters here on Thursday. Goosen, the 2007 champion in Doha, overshadowed World No.1 Lee Westwood at the Doha Golf Club where most golfers struggled to settle into a rhythm with strong winds adding to their problems on an already difficult course where the thick rough had been a talking point before the tournament began.
The 42-year-old South African, ranked 15th in the world, continued his excellent early-season form by shooting five birdies although he dropped two strokes, on the fourth and 15th, to shake off strong challenges from Robert Karlsson, Darren Fichardt and Richard Finch who are one behind on 70. Swede Karlsson is the defending champion, while South African Fichardt had won the Qatar Masters in 2003. All three thus have given them a solid platform to equal Adam Scott’s record of two titles in Doha, the Australian winning in 2002 and 2008.
“Yeah, it was tough out there today. I drove it nicely off the tee, so I hit a lot of shots off the fairway,” said Goosen who finished third in Abu Dhabi last month and second at the South African Open earlier. “But it was tough to get it close to the flags. It was windy conditions. It was difficult. Putting wasn’t easy, you’re getting blown all over the place, so it’s tough.”
Goosen expects similar conditions on Friday. “I think it’s going to be windy again tomorrow, so just have to keep playing away and try and fight the conditions and see where you are come the weekend.” Goosen joked that he shot a 69 because he was born in 1969, sounding relieved that he had tamed the conditions to a great extent. “The rough is brutal,” he said.
“You hit in the rough, you’re lucky to get on to the green at times. But today, they set the course up for the conditions. If you miss the fairways, then yeah, you’ve still got a problem getting on to the greens. “Well, you knew where it came from, that’s for sure. But it was going a bit up and down and it was actually a bit gusty. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve played in this amount of wind.” Karlsson, who also had five birdies and three bogeys, also found the going tough.
“It was definitely very windy,” said Karlsson. “In the morning I had 93 yards to the flag and I hit 9 iron.” But the Swede was nevertheless pleased with his performance. “I’m very happy with the round today. It wasn’t easy out there. It was very, very windy. “The golf course has a lot of heavy rough on it this year. So shooting under par the first round, very happy. It has been a long time since I played in this sort of wind.” Fichardt, who won the Qatar Masters in a playoff with compatriot James Kingston in 2003, was also breathing a sigh of relief after shooting 70. “Yeah, the wind is brutal,” Fichardt said.
“Lucky they put a few tees up, and they didn’t cut the greens this morning. So the greens are pretty slow, which was tricky with the chipping, because I left a couple of chips short and stuff.” World No. 1 Westwood, who has never won in Doha in his five previous appearances, shot a 73, while his challenger for the top rank Martin Kaymer was one over after eight holes.
