Frantic Sunday looms as nine tie for lead after Rd 2

It got crowded at the top after another calm day saw dozens of players notch up sub-par scores at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters yesterday.
After two rounds at the Doha Golf Club, the 20th edition of the European Tour event looks set for a frantic weekend with as many as nine players moving into a tie for the lead—a record in itself.
In 1997, there was a nine-way tie for the first-round lead at The Celtic Manor Wales Open but never before in European Tour’s history have nine players shared the lead after 36 holes.
The crowded top includes two players from Spain, two South Africans, and one each from England, Finland, South Korea, Thailand and Wales—all at eight-under-par 136.
The congested leaderboard also features seven players tied at seven-under and 10 more at six-under, including four-time major winner Ernie Els and World No. 10 Alex Noren.
First-round leader Bradley Dredge of Wales managed to stay among the leaders despite failing make further gains on his overnight eight-under total. He was joined at the top by South Africans Thomas Aiken and Jaco Van Zyl, Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Spanish duo Jorge Campillo and Nacho Elvira, Finn Mikko Korhonen, Englishman Andy Sullivan and South Korean Jeunghun Wang.
Dane Lucas Bjerregaard, Ireland’s Paul Dunne, Englishmen Simon Dyson, Chris Hanson, Jordan Smith and Anthony Wall, and American Daniel Im were a shot back at seven-under, with 31 players separated by just three shots at the top of the leaderboard.
Young Korean Wang Jeunghun had a golden chance to take the outright lead late on with a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th. However, the 2016 European Tour Rookie of the Year narrowly missed and carded a five-under-par 67 to remain eight-under and level with playing partner Aphibarnrat (70).
South African Jaco Van Zyl (69) had earlier matched the clubhouse lead posted by six players who teed off early in the morning.
Dredge, seeking his first European Tour title, shot an even-par (72) yesterday after his opening round 64. “Unfortunately it didn’t really go my way. I just didn’t play as well today. I was struggling. Yesterday I didn’t hit as many fairways as I would have liked. Today also I didn’t get as many as I would have liked but also didn’t putt as well. Overall, just not quite as good,” said the 43-year-old Welshman, who finished in a tie for fourth at last year’s CBQM.
“When we started off, it was pretty benign, pretty calm, but the wind got up and certainly made things a bit more difficult. I just need to try and improve on what I’m doing, and try and get my eye in on the greens like I did the first day and hopefully stay in contention,” Dredge added.
England’s Sullivan, who won three European Tour titles in 2015, shot a second straight 68, but left it late to make a move after opening with 10 straight pars from the 10th tee. He bagged his first birdie of the day on the second and added more on the fourth, seventh and eighth.
“I feel good. I felt like I’ve prepared really well for the start of the season and it’s nice to finally see some numbers that you would be quite happy with. The last couple of weeks have been a bit frustrating and I felt like it was only a matter of time before I started to play well again, and it’s come this week,” said Sullivan, who played his first two rounds with 2013 champion Chris Wood and 2010 champion Robert Karlsson.
The scores saw the cut being applied at one-under, with 56 players missing the weekend action—among them two-time Qatar Masters champion Paul Lawrie of Scotland, who shot a 73 yesterday to add to his first-round 70. The other notable names to miss the cut were Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand (69, 74), last week’s Abu Dhabi champion Tommy Fleetwood of England (73, 73), and India’s SSP Chawrasia (70, 79).