Lawrie Enjoys Grace in Doha

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Peter Lawrie is the leading Irish man at the Qatar Masters after a second-round score of 68. Lawrie now sits joint-fourth on the leaderboard just three shots of current leadersGeorge Coetzee, Bernd Wiesberger and Branden Grace.

Lawrie, playing in Doha on a sponsor’s invitation after just missing out on his card at qualifying school, opened with a confident opening round of 70 on Wednesday and replicated yesterday’s birdies on the first and 18th holes on Thursday, while he also struck on the fourth, seventh, ninth and tenth.

Bogeys on the fifth and 15th the only blotches on his card for the day. Michael Hoey is next best of the Irish on three under while Damien McGrane shot a level par round of 72 and is currently five shots off the lead.

Coetzee, Wiesberger and Grace may share the lead at the halfway stage but Marc Warren was the biggest mover. Coetzee improved on his opening-day 68 by a single stroke after mixing six birdies with a bogey in Doha while Wiesberger joined him on nine-under with a round of 66.

The Austrian - seeking his first European Tour win since 2012 - holed back-to-back birdies across four holes on the back nine to finish strongly and Grace’s measured four-under 68 steered him into a three-way tie for first place by Thursday evening. All one stroke behind the leading trio are Emiliano Grillo, An Byeong-hun and Scotland’s Warren, whose emphatic 65 lifted him from the mid-50s and right into trophy contention.

The highlight of the 33-year-old’s round was an eagle on the par-five first hole with only bogeys on three and 17 sullying the effect of seven more birdies around the Doha Golf Club course. Overnight leader Oliver Fisher of England slipped to 10th after following up his Wednesday score of 65 with a one-over-par 73 that included three bogeys and two birdies.

Also in the mix were Darren Fichardt, Richard Green and Alejandro Canizares but defending champion Sergio Garcia was struggling to break through after signing for a second consecutive 69. Justin Rose could only follow his opening-day score of 68 with a 73 after carding four bogeys across five holes on the back nine.

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No More Riviera for Clarke

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Darren Clarke has withdrawn from the Northern Trust Open in California because of a chest muscle injury.

Clarke pulled out of the tournament after scoring a seven-over-par 78 in the opening round on Thursday.

It is the same injury which caused the 45-year-old Northern Irishman miss the recent Qatar Masters.

Clarke's next scheduled event is the Honda Classic in Florida, which takes place from 27 February to 2 March.

Dustin Johnson is the leader at the Northern Trust Open after firing an impressive 66 in his opening round.

Ireland's two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington started his challenge with a 75.

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Irish Open Champion Wins Qatar

Former Irish Open winner, Sergio Garcia, is hoping the Qatar Masters victory is an encouraging sign of good things to come this season.

The Ryder Cup stalwart picked up the 11th European Tour win of his career, and his 26th worldwide, by beating Finland's Mikko Ilonen at the third hole of a sudden-death playoff in Doha on Saturday.

Garcia is one of the finest golfers never to have won a major championship and his eye-catching performance in the Middle East will tempt a lot of punters to back him for the U.S. Masters at Augusta in April.

"I hope this is the start of an amazing year," he told the tournament's official website (www.qatar-masters.com) after lifting the grand Mother of Pearl Trophy.

"Last year I had a lot of close calls, starting here, so I'm very excited to be able to get my hands on this trophy - this beautiful and heavy trophy.

"It's great to set up my year a little bit, to win again on the European Tour," said Garcia who last triumphed on the circuit when he captured the Andalucia Masters title in October 2011.

It was the eighth straight year the 34-year-old had competed in Qatar and victory over Ilonen made amends for his near-miss 12 months earlier when he was edged out by Briton Chris Wood's last-hole eagle.

"I'm thrilled to finally be able to win here," said Garcia who ended the regulation 72 holes alongside the Finn on 16-under-par 272.

"I've been close several times so it feels great to finally get over the finish line and go home with the trophy.

"I've been coming here for eight straight years so the crowd are used to seeing me which is nice. That always makes you feel comfortable," added world number 11 Garcia who has racked up a total of seven top-10 finishes in Doha.

"The crowd really made me feel that and hopefully they felt the same way. It was an exciting finish and you could see the crowd also got excited," he said after edging past Ilonen at the 18th with his third birdie four at the playoff hole.

Ilonen, who was aiming for his fourth tour win, said he lost to the better man.

"I played good golf this week so I can't be too disappointed," said the 34-year-old Finn.

"I gave it my best shot but Sergio was a bit better this time. There's no shame in losing to a great player like him."

The final leg of the tour's three-week Desert Swing, which kicked off with Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal's victory in Abu Dhabi, will be at the Dubai Desert Classic that starts on Thursday.

Sergio Garcia won the Murphy's Irish Open at Druids Glen in 1999

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Hoey's Hot Putter in Doha

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Michael Hoey signed for a three under round of 69 on Thursday at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, ending the second round in the clubhouse just four shots off the lead, for a share of sixteenth place at the end of the morning session. 

A total of five birdies for the round - with two shots dropped at the second and eighth - prompting the tweet;

"Putter was great today, 25 putts, very happy! But not so good from the tee so of to the range...." 

Damien McGrane, Peter Lawrie and Gareth Maybin have yet to complete the second round at the Doha Golf Club, with the Dubliner one shot off the current projected cut of level par.

Another Dubliner, Paul McGinley, earns a weekend off after the 2014 Ryder Cup captain carded a second round 75 to finish four over par for the two days.

Butr it was Alexandre Kaleka who grabbed the outright lead at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, where Justin Rose remained the man to beat after a superb response to his one shot penalty in Doha.

England's World Number Four went from four under par to three under after his ball moved a fraction as he prepared to tap in for par on the 17th green on Wednesday. But he hit straight back with a closing birdie and two more came in his first five holes this morning to leave him only a two strokes off the lead.

Portugal's Ricardo Santos led overnight and while he waited for his lunchtime resumption, Challenge Tour graduate Kaleka birdied the 433 yard second to join him on seven under, before edging ahead with another gain at the fourth.

Former PGA Championship winner Simon Khan reached seven under when he picked up shots on the tenth and 16th, but then came a double-bogey seven on the long 18th.

Northern Irishman Michael Hoey was only two back after three birdies in four holes from the 14th.

Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els, three under and level par respectively, were later starters like Santos.

Rose's next dropped stroke, unlike his unfortunate incident on the opening day, was all of his own making.

His second to the long first after he had turned in 34 was fired miles right into the desert scrub and it took him three more shots to make the green.

A five foot putt did at least limit the damage to a bogey six and on five under he was still only two behind the joint leaders - Kaleka, Santos, South Africans Garth Mulroy and George Coetzee, Australian Marcus Fraser and Rose's playing partner Martin Kaymer.

Coetzee was producing the most action-packed round. He resumed with a double-bogey seven, but then had six birdies in seven holes around the turn.

Fraser was the one to break clear at the top. After nine straight pars on the back nine he grabbed five birdies in seven holes to reach nine under.

That put him two clear, but former World Number One Kaymer - hero of last September's Ryder Cup - sank a ten foot putt on the fifth to narrow the gap to one and Chilean Felipe Aguilar had a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th to be eight under as well.

Rose remained five under with four to go and compatriot Paul Casey was alongside him after birdies on the third and fourth.

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