Ayoub maintains lead at Qatar Open

Ayoub Id-Omar continued to lead after the penultimate round at the WAGRQatar Open Amateur Golf Championship. The Moroccan shot an even-par 72yesterday at the Doha Golf Club as he stay ahead of the pack going intothe final round. Omar had shot an impressive 69 on the opening day, but could not repeatthe performance. But his disciplined round of 72 meant he did justenough to hold his advantage.Pakistan’s Ahmed Baig made a big move as he shot a two-under-par 70 tojoin England’s Joshua White in second spot. White, who had shot a 70 onThursday had to be content with a 73.It was a disappointing day for American Thomas Strandemo, who hit a 74to drop to fourth with even par. Simon Khan and Mats Markovits also werenot at their best shooting 75 and 74 respectively to share fifth placealong with Mike Toorop.Meanwhile, Qatar’s Ali al-Shershani shot an impressive even-par 72 tomove to 10th in the leaderboard. However, last year’s runner-up Salehal-Kaabi could not keep pace and dropped to 23rd after a round of 79.Last year’s winner Pierre Junior Verlaar is in 14th place after hitting 76 in the second round.The tournament champion, the winner in the professional category and twobest Qatari finishers will get a berth at the Commercial Bank QatarMasters 2018, a European Tour event, to be held from February 22 to 25at the same venue.