Alvaro Quiros may not have felt at his best on day one of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters but an opening round of 66 left him just one shot off the lead at Doha Golf Club.
The Spaniard has missed 15 of 17 cuts since regaining his playing privileges with victory at the Rocco Forte Open - Verdura, Sicily last season and admitted he was not feeling confident at a course where he won in 2009.
Despite turning in 33, the seven-time European Tour winner was still not happy midway through his round but he added three further birdies and, by the end of play, was delighted to find something in his swing and stay bogey-free.
“The beginning of the round was a little bit rough off the tee,” he said. “I was lucky to be able to handle it and after that I would say I started to play very good golf.
“The beginning was like it's been for the last four years – terrible.
I started the day with very low expectations, just see what's happening, and it was nice - Alvaro Quiros
“The driver always blocked to the right with the feeling of not being able to release the club and suddenly, after a bad tee-shot on nine, I was able to finally find out something. I don't know clearly what it is but it started to work.
“I had very nice chances to shoot even lower but it's a very good round of golf for me.
“I started the day with very low expectations, just see what's happening, and it was nice.
“I just need to take the terrible shots out of the scorecard and play with what I have if they are decent. I'm able to scramble so that's the most important thing.”
Edoardo Molinari was at six under alongside Quiros and the Italian was delighted to make a fast start in the final event of the two-part Desert Swing.
The Trophée Hassan II champion had broken 70 just once in the first round this season before Thursday but seven birdies in his last ten holes put him in an excellent position heading into round two.
“It was a good day,” he said. “I hit the ball really steady all day, I hit every green apart from the last one. I hit a lot of fairways, I had a lot of chances for birdie and it was a very good start.
“Last week in Oman I had a decent week, I had a bad first round and then three very good rounds. It's been the case for the last few weeks so my focus this week was to try and get a good start and that's what I had.
“It's massive any time you can start with a 66. You're right there from the beginning, not feeling like you're chasing anything.”
