Early risers raise the standard

Early to bed, early to rise proved to be a winning formula for Wales' Mark Pilkington in the first round of the Qatar Masters yesterday.

Pilkington was tucked up in bed by 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday and back out of it by 4:45 a.m. yesterday to begin his round at the Doha Golf Club.

But it was well worth the effort after an opening 63, nine under par, established a course record and earned the 22-yearold a share of the lead with Sweden's Robert Karlsson.

Karlsson equalled Pilking ton's 63 just 20 minutes later, despite dropping a shot at the final hole with France's Olivier Edmond in third after a 65.

Argentinian Angel Cabrera, Austrian Markus Brier, South African Roger Wessels and Italians Marco Bernardini and Massimo Scarpa were all a shot further back on six under.

Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, exhausted after his epic fourround head-to-head duel with Tiger Woods in Dubai, had to settle for an opening 69 while former British Open champion Paul Lawrie carded a 68 with fellow Scot Dean Robertson one better off after a 67.

Best of the Irish were veterans Ronan Rafferty and a revitalised Eamonn Darcy who joined Bjorn on three under.

Pilkington was first off at 6:30 a.m. and arrived with the course still in darkness and floodlights blazing on the practice range.

But the 22-year-old from Bangor began in style with an eagle on his opening hole, and after seven more birdies was delighted with his start after being forced to make a third visit to the Qualifying School last November to retain his card.

"I made the cut in my last two events without doing anything special, but I felt I was playing well, putting quite nicely and I was quietly confident," said the former Welsh and Spanish Amateur champion.

"The first year I got my card in 1999 I struggled a bit because I tried to play both tours and I ended up spreading myself too thinly," Pilkington said.

Karlsson was another player to suffer a disappointing 2000 season, finishing a lowly 114th on the Order of Merit after being 10th, 17th and 19th the previous three years.

"It was a real struggle last year," he admitted. "I had really high expectations of myself and started off well, and was in contention for the first couple of tournaments.

"It was disappointing to finish with a six today but I hit a lot of good iron shots and took my chances well."