Adri Arnaus was joined by South Africa’s Justin Walters at the top of a congested leaderboard after day one of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Doha Golf Club is known for its windy conditions and it did not disappoint in round one, making scoring difficult throughout the day on the coast.
Spaniard Arnaus carded the best opening round of his rookie season (67) to date to set the target at five-under before South African Walters went bogey-free in the afternoon to join him.
South African pair George Coetzee and Justin Harding, Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, Welshman Bradley Dredge, Chile’s Hugo Leon, Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Scotland’s Richie Ramsay were then at four-under with three shots separating the top 37 players.
Walters is looking for his first European Tour win in his 192nd appearance after graduating from the Challenge Tour in 2012 and twice coming through the Qualifying School since.
‘Warming up today in the wind I was thinking anything under par would be a great score, so to go five-under, I’m ecstatic,’ he said.
‘I wouldn’t want to play in three more days of this. Last week was one of the harder weeks I’ve had on Tour in a while. I came here today and thought ”another day in the wind”, so it’s nice to get away with a really good round, and as conditions improve I hope to keep going the way I am.’
Harding made a birdie-birdie start, but dropped a shot on the 12th before picking it back up on the next. A run of five pars would follow as he turned in 34, but he birdied the first and ninth – from eight feet – to set the target with a 68.
In the afternoon, Walters birdied the tenth, 18th, second and third to get into contention, and a long putt on the sixth put him into a share of the lead.
Ryder Cup star from 2010 Ross Fisher, 2008 European No 1 Robert Karlsson, and last week’s winner Kurt Kitayama were also in the group of 18 players in the clubhouse, two shots off the lead.
