Young gun Nicolai Hojgaard stole the limelight from past champions and his identical twin brother Rasmus on the first day of the 2020 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters yesterday.
And the 18-year-old first-timer in Qatar feels that they are all beatable.
“If you play good golf you can beat them,” a confident Hojgaard said.
The Danish teenager lit up the back nine. He hit the turn in 35, then birdied seven of the next eight holes followed by a second bogey in an impressive opening round to emerge the leader at seven-under after a 64.
“It was a good day. I started out slow, was playing really bad on the first four, five, six holes — I was still two-under at that point but I was just playing it all over the place. My putter was just on fire today, that’s the difference,” he said.
“When I came to the back nine I was hitting fairways, hitting it close and rolling the putter. You just hit the button and you keep going. My putter was just the difference today. I was playing okay with the long game but I was just holing everything. The back nine is a bit trickier off the tee so I would say it was more of a three wood on the back nine,” the Dane, runner-up behind Sergio Garcia at the KLM Open last season, said.
His brother Rasmus, who is the third youngest winner in European Tour history with a dramatic play-off triumph at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in just his fifth Tour start, will start his second round six shots behind his twin brother. Rasmus closed out a one-under 70 with a disappointing double-bogey at the last hole.
Dutchman Joost Luiten, who dropped just one shot at the eighth, is hot on Hojgaard’s heels after signing for a six-under 65. Defending champion Justin Harding and last week’s winner in Oman, Sami Valimaki, are six strokes adrift of Hojgaard.
“I am absolutely pleased. Seven birdies and one dropped shot… that dropped shot came out of the middle of the fairway. But on a golf course like this, where it is really tricky on and around the greens, I was out of position, so sometimes you just have to accept the bogey. All in all, I am happy with my game,” Luiten said.
Former World No.1 Martin Kaymer, who has gone six years without a major win, finished the day at tied 101.
India’s SSP Chawrasia put up a good show finishing tied 9th after the first round. His compatriot, Shubhankar Sharma, who teed off with Nicolai Hojgaard, finished the day with a par round.
“The conditions were not that tough today in the morning. It was quite calm compared to what I had felt on the two days of practice and the Pro-Am. It was quite scoring to be honest; a little bit disappointed,” Sharma said.
“Nicolai played very well today. We both had a similar starts.... then I dropped a few shots and he kept making birdies. I have to stay in the zone and see what I can do tomorrow.”
LEADING ROUND I SCORES
64: N Hojgaard (Den)
65: J Luiten (Ned)
66: J Campillo (Esp), T Pieters (Bel), L Gagli (Ita), A Sullivan (Eng), C Pigem (Esp), J Winther (Den)
67: M Armitage (Eng), S Jamieson (Sco), S Chawrasia (Ind), D Fichardt (RSA), D Drysdale (Sco), B Hebert (Fra), K Moon (Kor)
68: M Siem (Ger), S Heisele (Ger), N Lemke (Swe), M Kinhult (Swe), B Poke (Den), R Macintyre (Sco), G Havret (Fra), Y Touhami (Mar), R Fisher (Eng), W Nienaber (RSA), D Coupland (Eng)
69: R Paratore (Ita), C Paisley (Eng), F Zanotti (Par), O Fisher (Eng), D Horsey (Eng), M Korhonen (Fin), D Burmester (RSA), A Rozner (Fra), J Senior (Eng), A Saddier (Fra), M Kieffer (Ger), R Langasque (Fra), M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), J Smith (Eng)
Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard tees off on the 18th hole during the first round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters at Education City Golf Club in Doha yesterday. PICTURES: Jayaram
