Lawrie leads in Doha

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January 28, 2016

Scotland's Paul Lawrie leads the Qatar Masters by one shot after the second round in Doha on Thursday.

The 47-year-old fired a six-under 66 to lead at 11-under par after a first round 67 on Wednesday.

Lawrie clearly likes the course setup having won in Qatar twice before in 1999 and 2012.

The Scot birdied the fourth, seventh; ninth, 10th, 12th, 16th and 18th holes while dropping a shot on the 15th par four.

After his round, Lawrie said that he was satisfied with the way he had played over the first two rounds.

"There's a long way to go," Lawrie said. "A lot of golf to be played and a lot of top players still up there, but so far, so good.

"It was pretty much the same as yesterday to be honest. I played nicely tee to green, hit a lot of good shots and only made one mistake, three-putting from 20 feet on the 15th.

"When you play as nicely as that and control the flight of the ball like I did yesterday, you know if you hole a few putts you are going to shoot low, so it was a good day.

"I got a little frustrated after 15 because I thought 'you are not taking advantage of the conditions', but then I played some nice golf and made a few birdies."

A shot back is Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts who fired a 68 with an eagle on the first hole plus three birdies; his only bogey of the round was on the par four 14th hole.

Three players are tied for third place on nine under, namely – Frenchman Gregory Bourdy (68), Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello (68) and Andrew Johnson of England who shot a 69.

Leading Qatar Masters second round scores:

1.   Paul Lawrie   -11 (67, 66) 133
2.   Nicolas Colsaerts -10 (66, 68) 134
3.   Rafa Cabrera-bello   -9 (67, 68) – 135
Grégory Bourdy -9 (67, 68)
Andrew Johnston   -9 (66, 69)
6.   Sergio Garcia -8 (70, 66) – 136
Pelle Edberg   -8 (70, 66)
Johan Carlsson   -8 (69, 67)
Tommy Fleetwood   -8 (67, 69)
Thorbjørn Olesen   -8 (67, 69)
11.   Brett Rumford   -7 (68, 69) – 137
Pablo Larrazábal   -7 (65, 72)
Joost Luiten   -7 (70, 67)
George Coetzee   -7 (67, 70)
Branden Grace   -7 (70, 67)
Maximilian Kieffer   -7 (69, 68)
Jens Fahrbring   -7 (69, 68)
Jorge Campillo   -7 (69, 68)
Kristoffer Broberg   -7 (67, 70)