Wu, Lombard share lead after first round at Qatar Masters

Living up to the reputation of South African golfers in Doha, Zander Lombard shot a 5-under 67 to take a share of the lead after the first round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on Thursday.
At the Doha Golf Club (DGC) where six South Africans have won the Mother of Pearl trophy since the inception of the Qatar Masters in 1998, the No. 100-ranked Lombard maintained his strong start to 2024 by making a bogey-free round to be tied with Ashun Wu of China. The South African began with three birdies on the front nine, and holed another two from the final three holes. “I drove it nicely and I hit a lot of greens which makes it pretty easy in this breeze, I didn’t have to up and down much,” Lombard said.
The 29-year-old finished second at the Bahrain Championship last week, sixth at the Dubai Invitational in his first event of the year and finished in the top 20 at the Dubai Desert Classic. “I’ve got no weakness in the bag at the moment. Everything is really good and nothing that is really great so I put it down to real consistency over the last six months, so hopefully keep doing what I’m doing,” Lombard, who battled the afternoon wind, said.
Wu also had five birdies and no bogeys like Lombard, who rolled in a 6-footer for birdie at the last after also picking up a shot on the short par-4 16th when he drove onto the green and two-putted from 25 feet. The 38-year-old Wu hit three birdies going out and another two after the turn to take the early lead alongside Lombard, with Niklas Norgaard of Denmark, Jaco Prinsloo of South Africa, Haydn Barron of Australia and Clement Sordet of France all one shot back.
Sordet carded six birdies and one bogey to briefly sit alongside Wu through 15 holes, but the Frenchman found trouble at the next to slip one back at four under.
“It was a great day today. A lot of greens, a lot of quality shots on the tees, on the fairways and good putts too. Five birdies and bogey-free today is a really good start,” Wu, who has four European Tour titles to his name, said.
Wu had missed three cuts and made only one top-20 finish in his opening six tournaments of the 2024 Race to Dubai Rankings before surging to the top on Thursday.
“I wasn’t here last year but I think the course has changed a little bit, moved the tee a little bit further back and made the fairways a bit wider and more water around the greens so it is great right now, it is perfect,” he said.
Dylan Frittelli, who won in Bahrain ahead of compatriot Lombard, is five shots off the lead following a level par round which included four bogeys.
Prinsloo bounced back from last week’s missed cut at the Bahrain Championship to climb into a share of third place following an opening 68.
The South African, who was in the first group of the day, birdied the seventh but immediately gave that shot back – the only one he dropped on Thursday– before adding further gains at the tenth, 11th, 15th and 16th to sit one behind clubhouse leaders Wu and Lombard at four under.
“It was an early one, that’s for sure! The conditions were definitely favourable this morning. First nine we didn’t have much wind, back nine it picked up and funny enough that’s when I played better but happy to be done and have the afternoon off,” Prinsloo said.
“The greens are pretty firm so you have to pick your landing spots. Some tricky pins out there so you have to know where to pitch your ball and try and be on the safe side. There was a group of seven players at three under, consisting of Harrison Endycott, Tom McKibbin, Paul Waring, Rikuya Hoshino, Maximilian Rottluff, Sung Kang and Daniel Hillier.
Leading First-rounds scores67: Wu Ashun (CHN), Zander Lombard (RSA)
68: Niklas Norgaard (DEN), Jaco Prinsloo (RSA), Haydn Barron (AUS), Clement Sordet (FRA)
69: Maximilian Rottluff (GER), Kang Sung (KOR), Rikuya Hoshino (JPN), Pau Waring (GBR), Tom McKibbin (IRL), Harrison
Endycott (AUS), Daniel Hillier (NZL)