Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

By Kent Gray
The field were a collective 28-under par in the first round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. After a breezy Friday at Education Golf City, the field blew out to a combined 226-over par for the second round. When Mother Nature and golf get together, well, good luck.

Jeff Winther was one of the few to emerge with flying colours from the tee to green challenge, thanks a little to the luck of an early tee time and a lot to excellent golf. A second-round 67 took the 32-year-old Dane to eight under and the halfway lead in Doha by two strokes from five players: 2014 Ryder Cup hero Jamie Donaldson, former Oman Open champion Kurt Kitayama, Finn Kalle Samooja, South African Darren Fichardt and Englishman Jack Senior.

“I love coming back here,” said Winther who finished T-3 at Education City G.C. last year, missing by a stroke an epic five-hole playoff between Spaniard Jorge Campillo and Scot David Drysdale that Campillo eventually won.

“I have good memories from last year even though two guys knocked me out. I really like this course – it’s great to play and the conditions are fantastic. I haven’t played for three weeks, but coming out here is fantastic.

“The greens are very nice. I don’t want to jinx myself but I think they are easy to putt on. They are very true. The condition is the same as last year, it’s beautiful.”

Beautiful wasn’t a word Winther’s rivals on the opposite side of the start sheet would have used. Brutal perhaps better summed up Friday afternoon.


For further proof of Friday’s field wide frustrations, note that Englishman Chris Wood achieved an incredible feat:

Or how about this incredible stat:

Former Ryder Cupper Thomas Pieters was among a group of eight layers at five under, three shots behind Winther, when play was suspended at 17.40 due to fading light.

The Belgian is firmly in contention following rounds of 68-69.

Round Two Scores:
134: J WINTHER (DEN) 67 67,
136: J DONALDSON (WAL) 68 68, J SENIOR (ENG) 68 68, D FICHARDT (RSA) 68 68, K SAMOOJA (FIN) 65 71, K KITAYAMA (USA) 67 69,
137: B STONE (RSA) 69 68, N BERTASIO (ITA) 65 72, C PAISLEY (ENG) 67 70, J HANSEN (DEN) 66 71, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 67 70, T PIETERS (BEL) 68 69, M PAVON (FRA) 68 69, G HIGGO (RSA) 66 71,
138: C SHINKWIN (ENG) 70 68, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 71 67, T DETRY (BEL) 66 72, J SURI (USA) 70 68, S JAMIESON (SCO) 67 71, L GAGLI (ITA) 68 70, R MCEVOY (ENG) 65 73,
139:  H DU PLESSIS (RSA) 65 74, R JACQUELIN (FRA) 70 69, J JANEWATTANANOND (THA) 69 70, S NORRIS (RSA) 69 70, D LAW (SCO) 64 75, S SHARMA (IND) 71 68, G FDEZ-CASTA?O (ESP) 69 70, G FORREST (SCO) 71 68,
140: J CATLIN (USA) 70 70, G BHULLAR (IND) 67 73, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 69 71, D WHITNELL (ENG) 68 72, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 70 70, W NIENABER (RSA) 69 71,
141: J CAMPILLO (ESP) 67 74, C WOOD (ENG) 73 68, W BESSELING (NED) 72 69, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 69 72, Y CHANG (KOR) 70 71, A BJ?RK (SWE) 68 73, P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 67 74, A ROZNER (FRA) 69 72, F LAPORTA (ITA) 68 73, L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 69 72, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 69 72, S CROCKER (USA) 68 73,
142: A CA?IZARES (ESP) 73 69, N LEMKE (SWE) 70 72, R SANTOS (POR) 71 71, A CHESTERS (ENG) 72 70, T TREE (ENG) 67 75, D DRYSDALE (SCO) 70 72, N ELVIRA (ESP) 69 73, M SCHWAB (AUT) 71 71, M KIEFFER (GER) 67 75,
143: J WALTERS (RSA) 73 70, R ENOCH (WAL) 69 74, D COUPLAND (ENG) 69 74, J SMITH (ENG) 69 74, S BROWN (ENG) 69 74, R RAMSAY (SCO) 69 74, M KINHULT (SWE) 70 73, B HEBERT (FRA) 71 72, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 69 74, A LEVY (FRA) 71 72,
144: S AL KURDI (AM) (JOR) 68 76, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 70 74, E MOLINARI (ITA) 69 75, A MERONK (POL) 72 72, J LUITEN (NED) 69 75,
145: G HAVRET (FRA) 70 75, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 72 73, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 73 72, J MORRISON (ENG) 75 70, S GALLACHER (SCO) 70 75, K MOON (KOR) 70 75, W ORMSBY (AUS) 69 76, L CANTER (ENG) 71 74, G COETZEE (RSA) 67 78, A RAI (ENG) 73 72, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 76, J CALDWELL (NIR) 75 70, S SODERBERG (SWE) 73 72, S CHAWRASIA (IND) 70 75, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 72 73, B POKE (DEN) 71 74,
146: L BJERREGAARD (DEN) 77 69, H LI (CHN) 71 75, S HEND (AUS) 74 72, R H?JGAARD (DEN) 74 72, S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 69 77, R BLAND (ENG) 70 76, H PORTEOUS (RSA) 74 72, A LGUIRATI (MAR) 75 71, S HEISELE (GER) 70 76, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 72 74, O WILSON (ENG) 71 75, G PORTEOUS (ENG) 69 77,
147: C HILL (SCO) 72 75, T LEE (KOR) 75 72, D HOWELL (ENG) 73 74, J HARDING (RSA) 70 77, A COCKERILL (CAN) 73 74, R ROUSSEL (FRA) 73 74, S KIM (USA) 76 71,
148: R MCGOWAN (ENG) 70 78, S AL KAABI (AM) (QAT) 73 75, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 71 77, J STALTER (FRA) 73 75, T PULKKANEN (FIN) 75 73,
149: K REITAN (NOR) 74 75, D HUIZING (NED) 77 72,
150: R FISHER (ENG) 76 74, A QUIROS (ESP) 76 74, L SLATTERY (ENG) 75 75, R KARLBERG (SWE) 70 80,
151: O FARR (WAL) 73 78, G GREEN (MAS) 72 79,
152: J GONNET (FRA) 75 77, P DUNNE (IRL) 74 78,
153: C PIGEM (ESP) 78 75, R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA) 75 78, R JORDAAN (AM) (RSA) 76 77, A SADDIER (FRA) 75 78,
154: O FISHER (ENG) 78 76,
156: R PARATORE (ITA) 78 78,
166: A AL-SHAHRANI (AM) (QAT) 82 84,
**
Still to complete second round:
66: J LAGERGREN (SWE) 66 ,
68: L DE JAGER (RSA) 68 ,
69: C SYME (SCO) 69 ,
70: C SHARVIN (NIR) 70 ,
71: B RITTHAMMER (GER) 71 , C SORDET (FRA) 71 , J VEERMAN (USA) 71 ,
72: R ROCK (ENG) 72 ,
73: M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 73 ,
74: D BURMESTER (RSA) 74 , E FERGUSON (SCO) 74 ,
79: J JASSIM AL KUWARI (AM) (QAT) 79 ,
**
OUT: M JORDAN (ENG) 74 WD, A ARNAUS (ESP) 70 RT, M WARREN (SCO) 77 WD.