goosen leads in qatar
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Retief Goosen celebrated his 42nd birthday by setting the clubhouse target at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy in windy Doha.
A three under par 69 was sufficient to make the 2007 winner – it remains his last European Tour victory – the target for the rest of the field.
Defending champion Robert Karlsson needed a closing par five to match Goosen’s score, but instead went over the green in three and ran up a bogey.
England’s Richard Finch was also three under with one to play, but took six on the 639 yard ninth as well, to be level in second with Karlsson and another former winner – Goosen’s compatriot Darren Fichardt
That followed a long discussion over whether his ball had moved after he had addressed it. The former 3 Irish Open champion called a referee, but with no television close-up – Padraig Harrington’s undoing in Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago – to prove it one way or the other he was able to continue without penalty.
World Number One Lee Westwood handed in a 73, the same as Sergio Garcia.
German Martin Kaymer, who could take the number one spot off Westwood with a top-two finish, was among the later starters, as was last week’s winner Paul Casey.
Goosen has gone nearly two years without a victory, but has had no fewer than 25 top-ten finishes in that time and was joint third in Abu Dhabi, albeit 10 strokes behind Kaymer.
“It was a good four-club wind and tough,” he said. “But I got off to a good start and my putting kept my score together.”
Karlsson, who had scrambled brilliantly before his disappointing finish, said: “It was a very, very difficult day.
“At least you knew where the wind was coming from, but it was gusting and it’s a long while since I’ve played in a wind like that.”
Goosen was joined on three under by compatriot Thomas Aiken and England’s Seve Benson reached the same mark before bogeying the short third, his 12th.
The two-time US Open Championship winner looked set to be the only player to break 70 all day as Aiken and Benson both dropped back to one under with one to play.
