Although he couldn’t find any vegemite at breakfast, Richard Green still managed to celebrate Australia Day in style as a seven under par 65 took the left-hander into a share of the lead with Retief Goosen at the halfway stage of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club.
Australian Green and South African Goosen, who shot a four under par 68, lead the way at 11 under par 133 and with another Aussie in Nick O’Hern two shots back in third place, the celebrations were spreading from Down Under to Qatar.
“I couldn’t find any vegemite,” admitted Green. “It would have been nice to have found something but the closest I could come up with was Baked Beans.
“It’s a big thing back home and a lot of people have the day off. It is a day worth celebrating so it is a nice score to celebrate the day.”
Four birdies in the first six holes lifted Green up the leaderboard as he closed the gap on leader Goosen. Three more birdies coming home as Goosen’s charge slowed enabled the 34 year old from Melbourne to move into a share of the lead.
Green has managed to negotiate the challenging Doha Golf Club without dropping a shot for two days, a fact that underlines the high quality of his ball striking.
“I feel really comfortable with my game and confident with it,” he admitted. “I am hitting a lot of really good golf shots. I am not looking like making too much of a mess of it. It is a nice feeling knowing where the ball is going and how far. My distance control has been great and putting has been good.”
As for the prospect of adding to his 1997 Dubai Desert Classic victory and bringing an end to a run of six runners-up finishes since then, Green is looking forward to the challenge.
“I would like to have another win,” he said. “It would be fantastic. I play well over here and always play well at this time of the year so I like to make the most of it so see what happens.”
Goosen, the double US Open and World Number Eight, continues to look like the man to beat after a second round of 68. Having teamed up with coach Gregor Jamieson last year, employing the services of a coach for the first time in nine years, Goosen is getting back to his best, although he insists there is still some way to go.
With four birdies in his first eight holes, the back nine on the course, Goosen looked to be running away with the trophy. He picked up another birdie on the second, his 11th, but a lapse in concentration three holes later cost a shot and he was unable to pull further ahead.
“I wasn’t quite ready to hit the shot, hit it fat and it came up short on the fifth,” he explained. “I then hit a good putt but just misread it. Suddenly I was not making anything but there are 36 holes left and a lot of golf to be played.
“My driving was a lot better and I only missed three fairways which was pleasing. Still struggling on the par fives but I have given myself some birdie chances. It could have been another low round but we will leave those for the weekend.”
O’Hern briefly joined Goosen at the top of the leaderboard after reaching five under for his round before back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth, his 14th and 15th holes, same him drop just off the pace but he was still happy enough with a 69 and it was unlikely to spoil his Australia Day celebrations in the local Doha Aussie bar.
Henrik Stenson of Sweden, second and first in his last two outings over this course, continues to threaten after moving ominously to eight under par and only three off the pace as he seeks to become the first multiple winner of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in its ten year history.
Also on eight under par is last week’s runner-up Miguel Angel Jiménez, Paul Lawrie, who won the Qatar Masters in 1999 a few months before winning The Open, and China’s Liang Wen-Chong.
Meanwhile the name of Seve will feature at the weekend after English amateur, Seve Benson, birdied three of the last four holes to make the cut on the mark in only his second European Tour event. Named after the famous Spaniard 20 years ago, the Surrey golfer from Wentworth Club was destined to become a golfer from birth. Having qualified for the Commercialbank Qatar Masters after winning the Qatar Open Amateur a month ago, Benson has certainly made the most of his opportunity to perform on the world stage.
However the current European Tour Player of the Year and last week’s winner, Paul Casey, and fellow Ryder Cup player Darren Clarke, were among the casualties of the halfway cut.
