Qatar Tribune
Four-time European Tour winner Marcel Siem had a superb start to the Qatar Open Amateur Golf Championship at the Doha Golf Club course with the German leading with a superb 64.
He sank nine birdies and suffered a bogey, exploiting the rather benign conditions in the morning and getting a two-shot advantage over British Brandon Robinson Thompson in the event which has three qualifying slots in the Pro category for the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
A smiling and relieved Siem, who shared the 28th place at the 2018 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, was delighted to be on the top of the leaderboard. He commented: “It was a little windy in the afternoon, but it was calmer in the morning. Overall the conditions were very nice here today.
“Usually the greens are little firmer during the Qatar Masters, but here they were bit softer. Roughs are also not as high as usual… it played a little easier today. So overall it was a bit easier,” he added.
Siem, who had a strong start to the year when he finished a joint 49th in the South Africa Open, said he was pleased with his first day’s play. “I am happy with my score. But I don’t know what’s coming. I had a good finish on the last few holes. I am happy with the score. But as we all know, this course is always difficult to play and still, we have two more days to go, so we have to be a little careful.”
“I am feeling more confident with a couple of good starts this year. Playing the Challenge after 18 years is not nice. It’s like when you miss one class in school, you have to go back. I have to go through the season with playing 10-12 challengers or invitation events on the tour. I have to fight through this year and I hope 2020 will be good again,” added the 2014 BMW Masters champion.
Other players in his group were French Tom Santa and Marc Van T Sant. The former also felt inspired and produced a two-under-par 70 card to lead the Amateur class. The Doha Golf Club player fired four birdies but dropped two shots to share the overall fifth spot with five other players - Bryce Easton, Niklas Lemke, Jerome Lando-Casanova, Wilco Nienaber and Jens Dantorp.
Kevin Esteve, four strokes off leader Siem, is a shot ahead of Max Schmitt, another German among the top four. Schmitt nailed an eagle and four birdies but could not maintain his game. His three bogeys fetched him a 69.
Santa is hotly followed by Austrian Andrew Ikstrums, who posted a first-round 71. Ikstrums is also based in Qatar and plays at the Doha Golf Club regularly with Santa. Irish Michael Young is in the third spot in the Amateur class with a par card. French player Victor Riu was the 14th and the last player to have got a par round on the opening day.
Among the Qatari players, Ali al Shahrani came up with a two-over-par 74 round. He is holding the 21st spot and two shots adrift him is Saleh al Kaabi. Leading scores on the first day of the Qatar Open golf at DGC (par 72)typeface:>
Players R1 Gross
1st Marcel Siem (0) 64 64
2nd Brandon Robinson Thompson (0) 66 66
3rd Kevin Esteve (0) 68 68
4th Max Schmitt (0) 69 69
5th Bryce Easton (0) 70 70
5th Niklas Lemke (0) 70 70
5th Tom Santa (0) 70 70
5th Jerome Lando-Casanova (0) 70 70
5th Wilco Nienaber (0) 70 70
5th Jens Dantorp (0) 70 70
11th Mathiam Keyser (0) 71 71
11th Andrew Ikstrums (0) 71 71
11th Gudmundur Kristjansson (0) 71 71
14th Michael Young (0) 72 72
14th Victor Riu (0) 72 72
16th Paul McBride (0) 73 73
16th Joel Sjöholm (0) 73 73
16th Daksh Shokeen (0) 73 73
16th Sean Lawrie (0) 73 73
16th Jordan Massey (0) 73 73
Selected
21st Ali Al Shahrani (-1) 74 74
26th Saleh Ali Musbah Al Kaabi (-3) 76 76