Paul Doherty posted a record-equaling round of eight-under par 64 to open up an early lead in the weather-affected Shaikh Maktoum Dubai Open at Al Badia Golf Club on Monday.
The talented Scot overcame an early bogey on the second with one eagle and seven birdies, playing the back nine at five-under par, to establish a two-shot lead over England’s Luke Joy, who had finished runner-up to Czech Republic’s Cyril Suk in this event last year.
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A group of seven players, including England’s Gary King’s, who won last week’s Ascorp Abu Dhabi Golf Citizen Open, was a further two shots adrift on 68. Spain’s Carlos Balmaseda was the only one to finish on three-under par 69, but as fading light forced the round to be suspended, there were still quite a few groups out on the course.
On a day when early morning fog delayed the start of play by one and a half hours, Doherty defied stamina-sapping hot and humid conditions to hit the front.
“I am really very pleased with my efforts and couldn’t have asked for a better start,” said Doherty, who had broken through for his maiden win on the MENA Tour at Royal D’Anfa Open in Morocco early this year.
“I bogeyed the second, but rolled in a nice putt for a birdie on the fourth and that kind of lifted my game. Things thereafter were just fine. Certainly, the highlight of the day was that eagle on the par-5 eighth, when I hit my five-wood from 235 yards to within 20 feet and holed the putt.
@AlBadiaGolfClub @MENAGolfTour some excellent scores from this mornings play. Paddy will need to toughen things up pic.twitter.com/ofqSDKUNh3
— Brodie MacDonald (@MacDonaldBrodie) September 28, 2015
“This is one of my favourites courses. I did pretty well here last year (when he finished solo third) and the plan is to keep the early momentum rolling all the way through,” said the 30-year-old from Glasgow, who joined Canada’s Lindsay Reynolds and Sweden’s Fredrik Quicker as only the third golfer on the MENA Golf Tour to return a 64 at Al Badia Golf Club.
“There are plenty of scoring opportunities out there as the fairways are just great and so are the greens,” he added.
Like Doherty, England’s Joy also made an early bogey (on the third), but came back strongly, playing the last 15 holes to seven-under par to put himself firmly in the frame for a shot at the title.
England’s King mixed two bogeys with two birdies on the front nine, but came alive on the back nine with four birdies to move into a tie for third place with his compatriots Dale Marmion and Tom Boys, Gabriel Canizares (Spain), Ben Williams (New Zealand), Thriston Arthur Lawrence (South Africa) and Per Barth of Sweden.
Rising Moroccan amateur star Jamal Allali shot one-under 71 to lead the MENA Division for the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, ahead of experienced Faycal Serghini and Ayoub Lguirati as regular contenders Ahmed Marjane, Younes El Hassani and Amine Joudar were yet to finish their first round.
England’s Miles Tunnicliff, a two-time winner on the European Tour, carded a 71.
