Strong wind blows off Qatar Masters play Friday, 03 February 2012 23:43

Thomas Bjorn (left) of Denmark and Lee Westwood (right) of Britain talk to Andy McFee, European Tour Chief Referee during the second round of the Qatar Masters tournament at the Doha golf club yesterday.

DOHA: Play was called off at the Qatar Masters after just three hours of action yesterday as strong desert winds moved balls and made life difficult for players at Doha Golf Club.

European Tour officials said the tournament will be now played over 54 holes and finish on schedule tomorrow. With the tournament sponsors and partners insisting that the event should end on Sunday, it was decided not to extend it to Monday.

“After conversations with Commercialbank and the event here and television, there was a decision that they adamantly wanted to end the tournament on Sunday night,” tournament director David Probyn said.

“So taking that into account and the fact that we don’t have enough daylight, play has been reduced to 54 holes.”

Probyn said the wind kept moving balls on the greens which was a significant factor in suspending play. “Yeah, that’s right. The ball decided to move on the green when we suspended play at quarter past 9 this morning, which is really the mandate for us to, at that point, declare play unplayable. “And from then on we were waiting on the winds to recede to a point where that’s no longer a risk.

“Unfortunately throughout the day up until even now balls are still moving on the greens, so we’ve not reached a point where we can put the guys back out.”

Winds upto 40mph were predicted before the tournament began and the first round on Thursday was played even as a sandstorm raged over Qatar.

A low pressure area over Iran was the cause of the strong winds, the weather forecast said.

Overnight leader Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano had dropped two shots over the first seven holes in the second round to slip behind John Daly when tournament officials decided to stop play at 9.13am local time.

Daly, who had shot a 67 in “brutal” conditions on Thursday had complained that he had to “eat” a lot of sand and many other players were also struggling with the conditions.AFP

Free entry for final two days

Doha: Following the suspension of play on day two yesterday due to high winds, organisers of the 2012 Commercialbank Qatar Masters golf presented by Dolphin Energy have announced that entry to the final two days of the $2.5m tournament will be free of charge.
With the tournament reduced to a 54-hole event, play will resume at Doha Golf Club at 08.45am today with round two to be completed before the third and final round takes place tomorrow.The Peninsula

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