George Coetzee powered his way to the top of the leaderboard on the opening day of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters after a devastating display with his putter.
Coetzee needed just 21 putts in a round of 64 which saw the burly South African open up a one-shot lead over his compatriot Dawie Van der Walt and England’s Steve Webster, who rewrote the history books after starting his round of 65 with an albatross.
Coetzee enjoyed some good fortune during his eight under par opening effort, but the 27 year old from Pretoria – who is chasing his debut European Tour title – made the most of his luck with a stunning display on Doha Golf Club’s recently re-laid greens.
He said: “I was quite lucky to get away with some shots I hit today, but put on another good putting display to finish on a nice number.
“There’s always a lot of luck involved in this game, especially the way I played today. I think I had 21 putts with a three-putt, so that goes to show that I can hit the ball a little bit better. I can’t wait for it all to click, because when I do I might be unstoppable!”
Webster’s game clicked into gear in rapid fashion, as the Englishman struck a five wood from the fairway of the tenth hole 254 yards into the cup for an opening albatross – a first on The European Tour.
It was the second albatross of Webster’s career – the first came at the 2011 Open d’Italia where, coincidentally, he used the same five wood.
Webster’s day then got even better with five birdies in his next 12 holes, but after a bogey on the sixth he trails Coetzee by one shot.
Webster said: “There were two people behind the green, and one of them started jumping up and pointing down. So I didn’t know whether it’d gone over the back into the rocks, but when I got up to the green he started clapping.
“So it was a dream start – I’ve certainly never been three under after one hole before. I didn’t know if it was going to be my day, or whether I’d used up all my luck on the first.
“I played great after that, was just really consistent and gave myself a lot of putts. I was probably a little disappointed with seven under to be honest, because I should probably have finished on nine or ten under.”
The highlight of Van der Walt’s flawless round was an eagle at the first hole, while Ross Fisher closed with an eagle to share fourth place on six under par with Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Francois Calmels and Spanish rookie Nacho Elvira.
A trio of Major champions – Ernie Els, John Daly and Paul Lawrie – are among the six players a further stroke back on five under with Els holing out from a greenside bunker for a closing eagle during his first competitive round with 14 new clubs in his bag.
The French duo of Gary Stal and Romain Wattel and Welshman Stuart Manley were unable to finish when play was suspended at 5.22pm due to darkness, and so will return to the course at 7.15am on Thursday morning to complete their first rounds.
First Round Scores (three players will complete their first rounds on Friday morning after round one was suspended due bad light):
64 G Coetzee (RSA);
65 S Webster (Eng); D Van Der Walt (RSA);
66 R Fisher (Eng); N Elvira (Esp); F Calmels (Fra); R Cabrera-Bello (Esp);
67 G Bhullar (Ind); J Daly (USA); T Aiken (RSA); B Grace (RSA); P Lawrie (Sco); E Els (RSA);
68 M Hoey (Nir); H Stenson (Swe); M Ilonen (Fin); S Dyson (Eng); T Olesen (Den); T Lewis (Eng); S Benson (Eng); T Jaidee (Tha); M Baldwin (Eng); A Cañizares (Esp); S Kapur (Ind); J Morrison (Eng);
69 T Hatton (Eng); K Broberg (Swe); S Gallacher (Sco); A Quiros (Esp); M Siem (Ger); F Zanotti (Par); J Olazábal (Esp); E Pepperell (Eng); P Hanson (Swe); M Carlsson (Swe); J Carlsson (Swe); C Doak (Sco); J Parry (Eng); R Bland (Eng); D Fichardt (RSA);
70 J Dufner (USA); B Koepka (USA); S Kjeldsen (Den); R Derksen (Ned); A Wall (Eng); A Saddier (Fra); M Crespi (Ita); G Havret (Fra); M Kaymer (Ger); R Karlsson (Swe); P Uihlein (USA); R Rock (Eng); M Warren (Sco); D McGrane (Irl); S Thornton (Irl); D Foos (am) (Ger);
71 P Larrazábal (Esp); R Dinwiddie (Eng); A Sullivan (Eng); M Jiménez (Esp); J Walters (RSA); S Garcia (Esp); D Willett (Eng); H Otto (RSA); B Wiesberger (Aut); J Quesne (Fra); J Singh (Ind);
72 M Foster (Eng); L Donald (Eng); C Del Moral (Esp); R Santos (Por); R Gonzalez (Arg); G Mulroy (RSA); R Jacquelin (Fra); J Kruger (RSA); C Lee (Sco); J Lima (Por); W Ormsby (Aus); A Pavan (Ita); E Grillo (Arg); P Whiteford (Sco); A Otaegui (Esp);
73 P McGinley (Irl); S Hansen (Den); C Wood (Eng); L Slattery (Eng); D Huizing (Ned); V Riu (Fra); E De La Riva (Esp); B Rumford (Aus); M Kieffer (Ger); R Kakko (Fin); D Howell (Eng); S Kim (Kor); T Fleetwood (Eng); J Jeong (Kor); A Al-Shahrani (am) (Qat);
74 P Waring (Eng); M Fraser (Aus); T Björn (Den); G Storm (Eng); J McLeary (Sco); E Molinari (Ita); R Sterne (RSA); R Green (Aus); G Maybin (Nir); J Campillo (Esp); M Madsen (Den); J Hahn (USA); M Williams (am) (Eng);
75 R Finch (Eng);
76 S Lowry (Irl); C Arendell (USA); B Stone (RSA); M Nixon (Eng);
78 A Al Kaabi (am) (Qat);
79 J Hansen (Den); N Fasth (Swe); J Dantorp (Swe); A Levy (Fra);
