Day one digest: Commercial Bank Qatar Masters

Everything you need to know from the opening day at Education City Golf Club.

Nicolai hit the birdie trail - and got a pretty big seal of approval - Bobby Mac was hitting bombs and Kaymer did the seemingly impossible on day one of the 2020 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

Here is everything you need to know from Thursday at  Education City Golf Club.

Birdie blitz sends Højgaard flying

Nicolai Højgaard was well off the pace when he turned in 35 but an incredible run of six birdies from the tenth sent him catapulting up the leaderboard. He added another at the 17th but finished with a bogey to sit at seven under, one clear of Dutchman Joost Luiten. "It was a good day," he said. "I started out slow, was playing really bad on the first four, five, six holes - I was still two under at that point but I was just playing it all over the place. My putter was just on fire today, that's the difference. When I came to the back nine I was hitting fairways, hitting it close and rolling the putter. You just hit the button and you keep going. I was hitting the fairway, I was hitting greens, I was getting close on the par fives."

Great Danes

This week Nicolai is your 18 hole leader but last week in Oman it was Rasmus - his identical twin brother - who was battling at the right end of the leaderboard after day one. The Højgaard boys have been on the radar for a while, winning the Eisenhower Trophy for Denmark alongside John Axelsen in 2018 and playing in the Junior Ryder Cup the same year. Since turning professional, Nicolai made the first splash finishing second at last season's KLM Open before Rasmus got his card at the Qualifying School and then won the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.

They're also being backed for the very top by the European Tour's greatest Dane of all.

High praise indeed for two remarkable talents.

Double delight for Winther

Speaking of Danes, Jeff Winther is just two off the lead but he started his round on Thursday at 59 pace. An opening eagle on the par four tenth was followed by a birdie at the 12th and another eagle on the 13th meant he was five under after four holes. He recovered excellently from two bogeys to finish at that score and right in the mix.

MacIntyre missile

There's no altitude to help the players with distance this week........but there are cart paths. Robert MacIntyre doesn't need a lot of help to get his ball down the fairway but just like the rest of us, he'll take some if it's there. Just the 409 yards.

Not all pars are equal

But then not all players are Martin Kaymer. This was pretty special.

The power of the pencil

Eddie Pepperell is one of the most entertaining and honest players on Tour and we wouldn't have him any other way. An honest mistake in attempting to correct a previous honest mistake means he is on the way home. We'll let Eddie explain in his typically candid fashion.