Lee, Bae and Phachara hold clubhouse lead at International Series Qatar




 Lee, Bae and Phachara hold clubhouse lead at International Series Qatar


Canadian Richard T.Lee, Sangmoon Bae from Korea and Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai shared the morning honours early on day one at the US$2.5 million International Series Qatar today after shooting three-under-par 69s, when strong winds were prevalent.


They have the clubhouse lead at Doha Golf Club from South Africans Charl Schwartzel and Darren Fichardt who came in with 70s, in the third event of the season on the Asian Tour and the second of the year’s International Series tournaments.


Australia’s John Lyras, Andy Ogletree from the United States, Indian Jyoti Randhawa, Malaysian Ben Leong, Filipino Miguel Tabuena and Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong and Gunn Charoenkul all carded 71s.

“I made a few good long putts in my round and just kept it in play, windy conditions so you have to keep it in the fairways and get it on the green to have putts that can go in,” said the Canadian.


“I think I converted that pretty well even though I had two bogeys out there, I’m looking forward to tomorrows round.”


It was an encouraging round, made up of five birdies and two bogeys, for Lee considering he had to retire from last week’s International Series Oman as he was feeling unwell.


He added: “Yeah I’m feeling about 70% healthy again and hopefully the next three days I can hold up and play the round I played today.”


Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, was happy to made a good start considering the difficult conditions which the wind reach gusts of 35 kilometres per hour.


He said: “Yeah, I thought teeing off early we would get a little bit of benefit with the wind, but we didn’t, so spent most of the day in pretty strong conditions and thought I played really well. You always feel like when you play well you always feel like you could have left a few out there but in these conditions two under will be good.”


Lee is a two-time winner on the Asian Tour and came close to winning two International Series events last year in Singapore and Morocco before finishing runner up on both occasions.


---------------------


Sangmoon Bae of Korea pictured during Round One on Thursday February 16, 2023 at the US$2.5 million International Series Qatar at Doha Golf Club, Doha, Qatar. The tournament is being held from February 16-19, 2023. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.


Charl Schwartzel of South Africa pictured during Round One on Thursday February 16, 2023 at the US$2.5 million International Series Qatar at Doha Golf Club, Doha, Qatar. The tournament is being held from February 16-19, 2023. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Incredible Football Festival of India (IFFI)

Image
When November swings around it’s time to roll out the red carpet as a plethora of mega stars from Bollywood fly into Goa to celebrate the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The week long extravaganza brings glamorous actors and directors from the film fraternity in contact with fans of the big screen. This year’s event happened between the 20 th  and 28 th  of November in Panjim and was extra special for me. On the sidelines of the main event, an open air football film festival was organised by Serendipity, which took place from the 22 nd  till the 27 th  of November at the Children’s park in Campal. The idea behind the screenings was that Goans love football, so this would attract them towards attending the glitzy annual event. The friendly German professor, Jans Tilman was the curator of the football documentaries and was present to interact with the audience before and after the movies. This was actually Jan’s second trip to Goa as he previously organised similar foo
Read more

Doha winner Aryna Sabalenka: ‘I lost my dad in the pre-season. I’m doing this for him’

Image
Doha winner Aryna Sabalenka: ‘I lost my dad in the pre-season. I’m doing this for him’ Aryna Sabalenka eased past Petra Kvitova to win the Qatar Open and then dedicated the title to her father Sergey, who passed away in November. The 21-year-old secured her sixth WTA Tour title and third Premier 5 trophy with a solid victory over the eighth-seeded Kvitova, winning 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 14 minutes. The ninth seed broke in game four of the first set and games seven and nine of the second to ease to victory. Sabalenka revealed afterwards how tough the past few months have been on her following the death of her father. “It was a long journey here and I put everything on tennis,” the Belarusian said. “I was actually only playing tennis and focusing on tennis and nothing else. And I think I gave everything for tennis. “I just lost my dad in the pre-season and he was my biggest motivation, and I’m doing it for him.” The world No 13’s last four titles were all w
Read more

Asia’s best women’s teams poised for AFC Women’s Club Championship™ return

    The stage will be set for the return of Asia’s premier women's football club competition when eight club champions from as many Member Associations (MAs) discover their battle lines at the official draw ceremony of the  AFC  Women’s Club Championship™ 2023 - Invitational Tournament on Thursday.  Taking place from November 6 to 12, the tournament will give way to the  AFC  Women’s Champions League  from the 2024/25 season.  The eight participants, three more than the previous edition, will be divided into two groups of four teams who will play in centralised venues in Uzbekistan and Thailand.  The seeding is based on the latest FIFA Women’s World Ranking of their respective MAs, and following the Nadeshiko’s commendable performance at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023, WE League champions Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies of Japan will be the top seed, securing a spot in Pot 1.  With Australia’s Semi-final finish at the FIFA Women’s World Cup earning them the s
Read more