Thriston Lawrence was one of the players who finished his round on Thursday in the first round of the DP World Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, with his five-under-par 67 coming before first a sandstorm and then the threat of lightning forced play to be suspended.
Starting his round on the 10th of Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar, Lawrence picked up a birdie on his first hole. He made three more ahead of the turn, which he reached in four-under 32, and then made one more on his homeward nine without dropping his shot to be in a share of seventh amongst those who had completed their rounds.
That put him two strokes off the lead which was shared by Scott Jamieson of Scotland and New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier. They were each bogey-free in their seven-under 63s, and they were one clear of four players on six-under-par 66. Those four were Santiago Tarrio of Spain and a trio of Scots in Ewen Ferguson, veteran Stephen Gallacher and Ryder Cup start Robert MacIntyre. Lawrence shared seventh with six other players. All of the players above him and with him on five-under had completed their rounds.
Three shots behind Lawrence, Justin Walters and Daniel van Tonder were done with two-under 70 each, and the in-form Zander Lombard was on two-under through nine. Jayden Schaper was one-under through 11, while Hennie du Plessis and Deon Germishuys were on level-par with their rounds complete. Wilco Nienaber and Tristen Strydom were on level-par too, through 11 holes and six holes respectively.
Louis de Jager was on one-over through six, and Thomas Aiken on the same score through five. Darren Fichardt was on two over through 18, while Ockie Strydom was on the same score through eight. Bryce Easton was on four-over through eight, while JC Ritchie and Oliver Bekker both retired during the first round.
