South African George Coetzee and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger shared the clubhouse lead with a nine-under par 135 aggregate midway through the second round of the 2.5 million dollar Qatar Masters on Thursday.
Coetzee, winless so far on the European Tour, shot a steady 67 in another day of calm conditions at the Doha Golf Club, while Wiesberger carded a 66 to take a one-shot lead over Emiliano Grillo of Argentina and An Byeong-hun of South Korea.
Wiesberger, who started on the 10th hole, began in style, picking up five shots over his first seven holes, including four straight gains.
His only blemish of the day came at the par four seventh, but he compensated by ending with a birdie four for an impressive 66, a round of six under.
Coetzee too fared better on his outward nine, making four gains, but also had one blemish, his second bogey at the fifth hole this week.
"I'm playing well. My swing is coming along slightly and I'm putting pretty nicely," said Coetzee. " I've just got to wait for my birdies and not force it and kind of play the golf course like I know it."
Wiesberger, who shared sixth place at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship last week, said: "I feel comfortable. I haven't really expected it going into those two weeks, especially because I played quite poorly last year.
"It gives me great confidence; if I keep on doing what I'm doing, I think I've worked on the right things the last couple of weeks and it shows."
Former winner Darren Fichardt was alone on seven under, one shot ahead of overnight leader Oliver Fisher who shot 73 on Thursday and was on 138 with six others.
Source: AFP
