By Rizwan Rehmat
DOHA: Two-time champion Paul Lawrie of Scotland yesterday moved towards winning his third title in Doha where he retained his overnight lead with a bogey-free round at the $2.5m Qatar Masters.
A score of 2 under par 70 on a windy day - with just a couple of birdies - helped the 1999 and 2012 champion to stay ahead of the pack with an overall card of 13 under par 203.
A couple of shots behind Lawrie is defending champion Branden Grace who surged ahead in extremely windy conditions to card 4 under par 68 at the Doha Golf Club (DGC).
With an overall score of 11 under par 205, Grace is tied for the second spot with Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen who carded three under par 69 as frigid temperatures greeted the players and fans at DGC on day three of the tournament.
Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello (71) and England’s Tommy (70) finished the third round at 10 under par 206.
A four-way tie for the sixth spot was shared by England’s Andtew Johnston (72), France’s Gregory Bourdy (72), Sweden’s Pelle Edberg (71) and England’s Lee Slattery (69).
A 5 under par 67 was next to an impossible score carded by England’s Richard Bland who finished round three tied for 10th spot (8 under par 208) with five other players.
Lawrie maintained a steady run of play in the first 13 holes before firing a birdie on 14. The 47-year-old also produced a neat putt to birdie hole 18. In the first two rounds, the former Qatar Masters champion carded 67 and 66 to lay the foundation of what could be an interesting finish today.
“Nice to end the day with a good putt,” Lawrie said yesterday after battling chilly winds for most part of the day.
“It’s obvious the wind was blowing out a little bit. Conditions were tough as you can see by the scoring, so to go around there and not have a bogey, a little bit frustrating for me,” Lawrie added.
“I hit a lot of good putts that didn’t go in but you look at the board and you can see that you’re still kind of doing well. So the kind of frustration goes away pretty quickly,” Lawrie explained.
“Today wasn’t quite so good – but still okay, not horrendous. I had my moments, as you know, where it’s not the best. But today was quite good, a little bit frustrated because I kind of felt as though I hit a lot of good putts that didn’t go in today,” Lawrie said.
“But there’s lots of players doing that this week. The greens are good, but there’s a lot of grain out there with the length, the height they have left them. But any time you go around a course like that 2-under par in tough conditions, you’ll take it,” he said.
Lawrie admitted he was excited going into today’s final round with a possibility of winning the Mother of Pearl Trophy for the third time.
“Yeah, that’s all you try to do. Every week that we play, your job is to get yourself in contention with nine holes to play and hopefully we can do that on the front nine tomorrow,” Lawrie said.
“There’s a lot of good players obviously behind me. Branden Grace is obviously defending champion, won here before and well up the World Rankings. So Saturday is going to be a different challenge but looking forward to it,” he said.
Grace, who didn’t find his range in the first round on Wednesday, yesterday carded four birdies - on holes 1, 16, 17 and 18 - to shadow Lawrie on a tough day.
“Patience,” Grace said when asked about his mantra for the day.
“It was a brutal day out there. The wind was blowing and the greens were tricky. In conditions like that, it’s tough to give yourself those chances. I think patience was the name of the game. I pretty much got the most out of my round today,” the South African said.
“I didn’t really think I left any out there, so 4-under was a great score,” he said. Grace carded 70 and 67 in the first two rounds but three successive birdies yesterday ensured the South African remained in contention going into today’s final round.
“Oh, yeah, that would be great,” Grace said when asked about the possibility of defending his title today.
“Obviously I’ve not done it, not a lot of people that have done it, as well. It would be great. I’m just glad with the type of golf that I’m playing and I’m giving myself a shot at retaining the trophy. It’s good, I’m playing some good golf and I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” he said.
“Patience is the name of the game. You can’t force things out there, especially in this wind,” Grace said.
“If you start forcing, try to go after some shots, that’s when you make the mistakes. Definitely it’s just trying to make pars, and like I said, taking the opportunities when they come your way. I stayed very patient and three good birdies to give myself a chance. So that was well deserved,” he said.
Olesen, who is tied for the second spot with Grace, carded an impressive 69 that was slightly blotched by a bogey on hole 5. Olesen fired birdies on holes 1, 8, 16 and 18.
“To be honest, I played great down the last nine holes,” Olesen said. “(I) gave myself so many chances. Was struggling a little bit on the front nine but still, keeping it in play. So it was nice to finish with birdie.
“I had a good chance there on 16 for eagle but it was nice with a couple of birdies on the last three,” he said.
The Peninsula
