Championship Be- They Were Also Whitewashed 3-0 in Sri Week Layoff
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
HANDBALL | Page 4 NBA | Page 5 Champions Thunder To Advertise here France beat top Mavs Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 Slovenia to as Kanter reach fi nal breaks arm Saturday, January 28, 2017 FOOTBALL Rabia Il 30, 1438 AH Barcelona rout GULF TIMES Real Sociedad to reach King’s Cup semi-fi nals SPORT Page 6 COMMERCIAL BANK QATAR MASTERS Frantic Sunday looms as nine tie for lead aft er Rd 2 IN 1997, THERE WAS A NINE-WAY TIE FOR THE FIRST-ROUND LEAD AT THE CELTIC MANOR WALES OPEN BUT NEVERNEVER BEFOREBEFORE ININ EUROPEANEUROPEAN TOUR’STOURS HISTORYHISTORY HAVEHAVE NINENINE PLAYERSPLAYERS SHAREDSHARED THETHE LEADLEAD AFTERAFTER 3636 HOLESHOLES By Satya Rath South African Jaco Van Zyl (69) had Doha earlier matched the clubhouse lead posted by six players who teed off early Paisley wins $150,000 for in the morning. t got crowded at the top after another Dredge, seeking his fi rst European Four-time major calm day saw dozens of players notch Tour title, shot an even-par (72) yester- winner and 2005 hole-in-one on the 17th, but up sub-par scores at the Commercial day after his opening round 64. “Unfor- CBQM champion Bank Qatar Masters yesterday. tunately it didn’t really go my way. I just Ernie Els was two he won’t be spending it! IAfter two rounds at the Doha Golf didn’t play as well today. I was strug- shots behind the Club, the 20th edition of the European gling. Yesterday I didn’t hit as many leaders going into hat’s better than a hole-in- in control of how to spend it, adding his Tour event looks set for a frantic week- fairways as I would have liked. Today weekend rounds. one? A hole-in-one when you wife would be deciding how best to put end with as many as nine players moving also I didn’t get as many as I would Wdesperately needed one. the money to use. into a tie for the lead—a record in itself. have liked but also didn’t putt as well. Chris Paisley arrived at Doha Golf Club “I don’t think it’s going to be me who is In 1997, there was a nine-way tie for Overall, just not quite as good,” said the yesterday in need of some luck, having going to spend it. My wife’s here this week, the fi rst-round lead at The Celtic Man- 43-year-old Welshman, who fi nished failed to make a birdie in his opening so I think she’ll probably take care of that,” or Wales Open but never before in Eu- in a tie for fourth at last year’s CBQM. round. His wishes came true at the quipped Paisley, whose best finishes on ropean Tour’s history have nine players “When we started off , it was pretty 135-yard 17th-hole when he watched his the European Tour are a tie for third at last shared the lead after 36 holes. benign, pretty calm, but the wind got nine-iron bounce next to the pin and year’s Italian Open and third at the 2015 The crowded top includes two play- up and certainly made things a bit more spin into the hole for an ace. BMW International in Germany. “This is my ers from Spain, two South Africans, diffi cult. I just need to try and improve “I was in between a wedge and a first hole-in-one on the European Tour. I and one each from England, Finland, on what I’m doing, and try and get my nine-iron, and decided to go with a little think that’s five in total in my life, but this is South Korea, Thailand and Wales—all eye in on the greens like I did the fi rst nine-iron. I just hit it perfectly and when it definitely the most memorable.” at eight-under-par 136. day and hopefully stay in contention,” landed, I said, ‘go in’, and it did, so I’m just Paisley had opened with a two-over 74 The congested leaderboard also fea- Dredge added. delighted,” said Paisley, who also birdied on Thursday and after a bogey on hole tures seven players tied at seven-under England’s Sullivan, who won three Eu- the 18th for a tournament-changing 67. three yesterday morning, he went on to and 10 more at six-under, including ropean Tour titles in 2015, shot a second The 30-year-old is teeing up this season make the turn at three-over and looked four-time major winner Ernie Els and straight 68, but left it late to make a move on the back of the best year of his career in likely to miss the cut. However, his World No. 10 Alex Noren. after opening with 10 straight pars from 2016 where he made the cut in 15 events, fortunes changed on the back nine as First-round leader Bradley Dredge of the 10th tee. He bagged his fi rst birdie of finishing in the top 25 seven times. The ace he birdied the 10th, 11th and 16th before Wales managed to stay among the lead- the day on the second and added more on is Paisley’s first on the European Tour and approaching the short 17th. ers despite failing make further gains on the fourth, seventh and eighth. he joins an elite list of 10 players who have “It was a great feeling, but strange, as I his overnight eight-under total. He was “I feel good. I felt like I’ve prepared hit the perfect shot in the 20 editions of the went 27 holes this week without making a joined at the top by South Africans Tho- really well for the start of the season and Qatar Masters. He is the first to do so on the birdie and was three-over-par, struggling mas Aiken and Jaco Van Zyl, Thai Kira- it’s nice to fi nally see some numbers that 17th hole since Warren Bennett 12 years ago. to make the cut. All of a sudden I made dech Aphibarnrat, Spanish duo Jorge you would be quite happy with. The last Paisley won $150,000 for the ace from a couple of birdies and had a hole-in-one Campillo and Nacho Elvira, Finn Mikko couple of weeks have been a bit frustrat- Qatar Duty Free, the tournament’s Hole- and I was inside the cut mark. I suppose it Korhonen, Englishman Andy Sullivan ing and I felt like it was only a matter of in-One Sponsor, but said he wouldn’t be shows you never give up!” and South Korean Jeunghun Wang. time before I started to play well again, Dane Lucas Bjerregaard, Ireland’s and it’s come this week,” said Sullivan, English golfer Chris Paul Dunne, Englishmen Simon Dy- who played his fi rst two rounds with Paisley (left) with son, Chris Hanson, Jordan Smith and 2013 champion Chris Wood and 2010 Darren Oster, Qatar Anthony Wall, and American Daniel Im champion Robert Karlsson. Duty Free’s Senior were a shot back at seven-under, with The scores saw the cut being applied Manager, Business 31 players separated by just three shots at one-under, with 56 players miss- Development and at the top of the leaderboard. ing the weekend action—among them Marketing. Paisley Young Korean Wang Jeunghun had a two-time Qatar Masters champion won $150,000 for golden chance to take the outright lead Paul Lawrie of Scotland, who shot a 73 late on with a 12-foot birdie putt on the yesterday to add to his fi rst-round 70. sinking an ace on 18th. However, the 2016 European Tour The other notable names to miss the the par-3 17th hole Rookie of the Year narrowly missed and cut were Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand during yesterday's carded a fi ve-under-par 67 to remain (69, 74), last week’s Abu Dhabi cham- 2nd round of CBQM eight-under and level with playing pion Tommy Fleetwood of England (73, at Doha Golf Club. partner Aphibarnrat (70). 73), and India’s SSP Chawrasia (70, 79). Nadal battles past Dimitrov to set up dream Federer fi nal Reuters fi nal, did his best to keep the twentysome- and fast in the third set, Nadal converting his Melbourne thing standard fl ying into the weekend. third and Dimitrov his fourth to keep the set There were no signs of the mental frailties on serve. After a short break while a specta- that have prevented Dimitrov from fulfi lling tor received medical attention, Nadal held afa Nadal had to be at his battling the potential promised by his nickname ‘Ba- for 6-6 and the set went into a tiebreaker. best to outlast Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, byFed’ as he went blow-for-blow with the Nadal missed a large part of the 2016 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 at the Aus- powerful left-hander. season because of a wrist injury but proved tralian Open yesterday and set up “It’s never easy to lose a match like that,” there was nothing wrong with his fi tness as Ra mouth-watering ninth Grand Slam fi nal said Dimitrov, who hit 79 winners. “But it he scrapped to go 2-1 up, sealing the deal meeting with his great rival Roger Federer. also shows me that I’m on the right path. with a blistering forehand which Dimitrov The Spaniard looked every inch a 14-times At least one thing I can say is I left it all out parried into the net.