Branden Grace kept sight of the lead at the Qatar Masters with a Thursday round of 67 that could have been something special were it not for a double bogey at the third hole.
The six-time European Tour winner started on the 10th and roared through the back nine in 31 to make an early move up the leaderboard, but he was derailed by trouble on the second loop. He went on to birdie the last hole of his round for a seven-under-par total heading into the weekend, which was good enough for a share of 11th place alongside his countryman George Coetzee.
Grace is the defending champion this week and has good memories of Doha Golf Club, which will come in handy as he bids to become the first player to successfully defend his title in Qatar.
Scotland’s Paul Lawrie led the way on day two after carding 66 for 133. He reached the halfway mark of the tournament with a two-shot lead over Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts.
Coetzee had a subdued second round that included an eagle at the 10th, a birdie at the 16th and a bogey at the seventh for a two-under-par 70 for a tie off 11th on 137.
Ernie Els also went two-under for his Friday round and shared 20th place with Louis Oosthuizen heading into the third round. Trevor Immelman produced some magic on the 18th hole of his round to make birdie and sneak under the cut line. He’ll be excited to have made it on the number.
LEADING SECOND ROUND SCORES
133 Paul Lawrie (Scot) 67 66
134 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 66 68
135 Andrew Johnston (Eng) 66 69, Rafa Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 67 68, Gregory Bourdy (France) 67 68
South Africans
T11 137 George Coetzee 67 70, Branden Grace 70 67
T20 138 Louis Oosthuizen 65 73, Ernie Els 68 70
T46 140 Brandon Stone 72 68
T66 142 Trevor Immelman 68 74, Haydn Pretorius 71 71
Missed the cut
145 Hennie Otto 72 73
147 Darren Fichardt 73 74
149 Ulrich van den Berg 74 75
