Fichardt’s eight-under round puts former winner back in spotlight

Former champion from South Africa Darren Fichardt had his share of limelight yesterday as he shot a superb eight-under par, the lowest score of the day, in the second round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.The 44-year-old, who had only four top-ten finishes last year and finished tied 40th in last week’s Oman Open, produced eight spectacular birdies in the morning session at the Doha Golf Club to finish the day tied 22nd at four-under.“Today I found something on the greens before I teed off and I managed to make a nice putt for birdie on the first hole and the third hole, and just carried on and it all started getting bigger and bigger,” said Fichardt, who had back-to-back birdies twice — on fifth-sixth and 13th-14th holes.Talking about his poor first round on Thursday where he carded a four-over with five bogeys, the five-time winner on the European Tour said, “Yesterday, I hit the ball really well. But I putted horrendously. I was very disappointed on the greens.“I wasn’t releasing. I was trying to hit out on it to start the ball rolling sooner, but I was hitting it down into the grain and it was jumping all over the place.”Remembering his 2003 victory here at the Doha Golf Club, he said: “The guys here have been giving me a lot of uphill this week, saying how much hair I had. I can’t believe it’s been 16 years since I last lifted the trophy here. Time has certainly flown.”India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar, who is also in the Fichardt bunch, was a bit disappointed with his one-under second round. Bhullar made a fine start in difficult conditions with a three-under 69 after the first round.“I hit the ball really well today… I think I hit better then yesterday. But I missed a lot of putts today. Though I managed to finish the day with a birdie and hope to keep the momentum till Sunday,” the 30-year-old, who won his maiden European Tour title in Fiji last August, said.However, the only other Indian in the fray, four-time European Tour winner SSP Chowrasia’s wretched run continued as he failed to make the cut.