Branden Grace, who carded a topsy-turvy 68 to hang on to his lead, is seeking to become the fourth South African winner of the tournament, following Darren Fichardt (2003), Ernie Els (2005) and Retief Goosen (2007). Pictures: Jayaram

 

By Satya Rath/Doha


The 18th edition of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters seems to be turning out to a memorable one for some of those on-the-fringes players, many of whom, despite showing a lot of spark early on, could never quite live up to that early promise.
Despite the presence of a few Major winners, and several players ranked among the world’s top 20, it’s the lesser-known names that have been making the waves at the Doha Golf Course over the last three days.
After Englishman Oliver Fisher’s opening day exploits, Day 2 belonged to two South Africans—George Coetzee and Branden Grace—and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.
Grace and Wiesberger kept their good work going yesterday too, on a day defending champion and World No. 6 Sergio ‘El Nino’ Garcia ruled himself out of title contention with a horrendous round of 77.
After an enthralling and fascinating day’s play, laced with plenty of leaps and falls, as many as four players were tied at the top with Scot Marc Warren and Argentine Emiliano Grillo joining Grace and Wiesberger with 13-under totals, going into today’s finale.
Following the quartet, at 11-under, were Coetzee, Eddiw Pepperell of England and Spain’s Alejandro Canizares. First day hero Fisher shot a 69 to keep himself in contention for a shot at the title with a three-day tally of nine-under.
Grace, who last month won the Alfred Dunhill Championship, had an inauspicious start when, after opening with a birdie and saving par on the second, he dropped back-to-back shots over the next two holes to go one-over.
On the par-4 fifth, his drive landed among the trees. With no obvious escape route, Grace snap-hooked a wedge to six feet for—what undoubtedly was the shot of the day—the most unlikely of birdies on the fifth, holed from 20 feet at the next and had three more gains to sign off with an impressive 68.
Three more birdies on the return nine put the 26-year-old South African alongside playing partner Grillo, Warren and Wiesberger for a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard.
“It was nice to start off with a birdie, but I got a little bit greedy on the third and the fourth, going for some pins I shouldn’t be going for. You learn the hard way through that.
“It was nice to bounce back the way I did and finish off the round with a good birdie on the 18th,” the 26-year-old Grace, whose six birdies in a courageous 68 helped offset back-to-back bogeys at three and four, said.
“I still have to play good golf to win. These guys are good and we all play to win and we are all there for a reason, so I’m just going to try to do the same and hopefully be one better.”
Grace is seeking to become the fourth South African winner of the tournament, following Darren Fichardt (2003), Ernie Els (2005) and Retief Goosen (2007).
Warren, playing in the third-last pairing, followed his second-round 65 with a 67. Grillo matched Warren’s total with a bogey-free 67, while Wiesberger birdied the 18th to share the lead for a second day with Grace.
Coetzee, who played in the last flight with Wiesberger, carded a 70 to share fifth place on 11-under with Pepperell, who finished with a hat-trick of birdies for a 65, and Canizares, who carded a 68 as he continued his remarkable bogey-free fun for a third straight day.
Among the star draws, four-time Major winner Els (70) sits at seven-under, one ahead of World No. 5 Justin Rose (69), while World No. 2 Henrik Stenson (71) is four-under.
Grillo will play today’s final flight with Warren and is the only one of the leading quartet without a European Tour title to his name. The 22-year-old believes this could be his week, almost a year after finishing runner-up to Stephen Gallacher in Dubai in the third leg of the Middle East swing.
“We’ve got three great golf courses out here in the Emirates and here in Qatar, and I think that makes it way easier to have a good week and to try to win. I was close in Dubai, one shot short, but I’m going to try to get my first one tomorrow,” said Grillo, Argentina’s second-ranked player behind Angel Cabrera.
“It’s going to take a lot of patience. I was very patient today and I had to wait seven holes to get my first birdie. The course was tougher today, so I obviously played better. I will do all I can to try and get my first win. This is what I play for. This is what I’ve practised for my entire life. You have to learn first to win out here and I think I’ve learned a lot and I think I’m ready,” Grillo added.
Warren’s second-round 65 remains the tournament’s joint-low round and he again showed fine form with six birdies and a bogey as he put himself in position for a fourth European Tour title, having won his third last August in Denmark.
“It was good, really solid today. I missed a few greens on the back nine, but my short game held it together and I hit a few good iron shots now and again. Overall, a really pleasing day,” Warren said. “After a really good round yesterday, I felt as if I got myself back in the tournament, so the main objective today was to carry that on and keep my name on the leaderboard. I’ve definitely done that.
“Tomorrow I’ll really focus on what I’m doing and if someone shoots a lower score than me, good luck to them, but I’ll certainly be giving it all I can.”
Wiesberger led for much of the day after birdieing the second and third, and went two clear when he converted from 15 feet at the eighth. The Austrian failed to capitalise on the two par-fives that followed, but curled in a 20-foot putt at the 12th and seemed to be in control until he pulled his tee shot into the desert at the 16th and bogeyed, before a five-footer at the last for birdie made it a good day for him.
“It’s nice to start the day in the lead and hang on to it,” said the 29 year old, who won both his European Tour titles in 2012. “Everybody seems to be playing really well and I enjoyed it out there. It was just that bad swing on the 16th which cost me a bogey, so it’s really a two-shot swing on a short hole like that. I finished nicely with a birdie and it gives me a bit of momentum going into the final round.”
Wiesberger finished sixth in Abu Dhabi last week and is looking to become the first Austrian winner of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.