Qatar Masters: There was good and bad news for fans and backers of Ernie Els following yesterday's second round of the Qatar Masters in Doha.The good was that Els, in danger of missing the cut on the European Tour for the first time since 1999 after an opening 73, moved up from 81st to joint 24th with a 69.
The bad was that he is still seven strokes off the lead. Australian left-hander Richard Green came in late in the day with a 68 and on nine under par is one in front of Swedes Pierre Fulke and Robert Karlsson heading into the last 36 holes.
Els reckons he now needs a "quality weekend" to make it two wins in a row following his success in the Dubai Desert Classic last Sunday.
But at least the South African was back on better terms with Belgian sports psychologist Jos Vanstiphout, with whom he had had heated words on the driving range prior to his first round.
"It was crazy - I guess we can put it down to a misunderstanding," said Els, the only player in the world's top 50 taking part in the event and believed to have received around €300,000 for agreeing to play and give a clinic.
"I was not happy. He is supposed to give me encouragement, not what he gave me.
"It's supposed to be 10 minutes of good stuff before I play, but that was 12 minutes of the most ridiculous stuff I've ever thought of.
"I don't know what went through his head."
In a less heated frame of mind as he teed off again Els, with a chance to climb above Vijay Singh and go to world number two, birdied his first two holes, the 11th with the help of a 60-foot putt.
He did three-putt the next, but further birdies then came at the 15th, 17th and first.
From that position he was disappointed to play the remaining eight in one over, bogeying the sixth after hooking his drive into the desert waste.
Paul McGinley led the Irish challenge with a second consecutive 71. The Dubliner dropped a shot at the ninth, picked up two shots with birdies at the 12th and 13th, then handed them back immediately with a double bogey at the next.
But he rallied with closing birdies at the 17th and long 18th to lie in tied 24th position on two under par.
The three other Irishman in the field, Peter Lawrie (76), Damien McGrane (74) and Gary Murphy (77) missed the cut by some distance.
Green, 52nd in the world with two more weeks to go before the top 50 qualify for next month's US Masters, came home in 32 to take over at the top from Fulke, who needed two birdies in his last three holes just to add a 70 to his initial 66.
Green is not prepared yet to rule out the possibility of having to fight this one out with Els.
"You can never write Ernie off," said the Melbourne golfer. "I wouldn't mind betting he puts together a six under or something like that tomorrow."
Indian Arjun Atwal is on five under par after having two clubs stolen from his bag overnight.
"First I saw that my driver wasn't there, and then my caddie told me the putter was missing too," he said.
"I bought a putter of the same make from the pro shop, but the driver I borrowed from Amandeep Johl wasn't the same, and after hooking it a few times I went with my three-wood most of the time."
Doha Second round scores
(British unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)
(x) denotes amateur
135 - R Green (Aus) 67 68.
136 - P Fulke (Swe) 66 70, R Karlsson (Swe) 69 67.
137 - T Wiratchant (Thai) 69 68.
138 - G Havret (Fra) 71 67, R Jacquelin (Fra) 70 68, D Park 68 70.
139 - R Gonzalez (Arg) 69 70, A Atwal (Ind) 70 69, N Fasth (Swe) 68 71.
140 - B Lane 71 69, M Fraser (Aus) 69 71, H Stenson (Swe) 67 73, M Lafeber (Ned) 69 71, A Kang (US) 68 72.
141 - C Hanell (Swe) 71 70, N Sato (Jpn) 69 72, N Dougherty 73 68, M Tunnicliff 73 68, R Coles 71 70, P Broadhurst 73 68, M A Martin (Spa) 70 71, C Devers (US) 70 71.
142 - S Webster 73 69, J Kingston (Rsa) 70 72, E Els (Rsa) 73 69, T Jaidee (Thai) 71 71, A Hansen (Den) 71 71, S Hansen (Den) 70 72, P McGinley (Ire) 71 71, G Storm 71 71.
143 - M Olander (Swe) 71 72, C Cevaer (Fra) 73 70, A Pitts (US) 69 74, D Drysdale 70 73, D Lynn 72 71, G Houston 67 76, P Hedblom (Swe) 70 73, A Wall 70 73, R Sterne (Rsa) 72 71, P Marksaeng (Thai) 71 72, J-F Lima (Por) 75 68, J Axgren (Swe) 74 69, J Randhawa (Ind) 73 70, J M Lara (Spa) 70 73, L Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 71, L Sung-man (Kor) 73 70.
144 - K Ferrie 74 70, A Groom (Aus) 69 75, S Kjeldsen (Den) 69 75, B Dredge 70 74, M Roe 74 70, G Emerson 72 72, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 72 72, P Lawrie 70 74, P Golding 74 70, D Fichardt (Rsa) 69 75, S Yates 71 73, J M Singh (Ind) 71 73, P Hanson (Swe) 70 74, R Muntz (Ned) 71 73, I Woosnam 72 72, G Rusnak (US) 70 74, F Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 75, S O'Hara 70 74.
145 - R-J Derksen (Ned) 74 71, S Drummond 74 71, S Dodd 71 74, M Kent (Rsa) 74 71, M Maritz (Rsa) 75 70, A Fraser (Aus) 71 74, C Rodiles (Spa) 70 75, C Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 75, Z Lian-wei (Chn) 71 74, M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 73.
Missed the cut: 146 - R Russell 72 74, P Archer 75 71, S Luna (Spa) 71 75, J Lomas 71 75, M Campbell (Nzl) 74 72, M Eliasson (Swe) 72 74, A Marshall 75 71, J Haeggman (Swe) 71 75, L Slattery 75 71, J Sandelin (Swe) 72 74, St Scahill (Nzl) 68 78, E Canonica (Ita) 72 74. 147 - H Nystrom (Swe) 75 72, J Knutzon (US) 73 74, W Ormsby (Aus) 76 71, M Foster 70 77, C Plaphol (Thai) 72 75, S Gallacher 72 75, E Loar (US) 73 74, M Ilonen (Fin) 74 73, AColtart 71 76, P Fowler (Aus) 74 73. 148 - A Tadini (Ita) 73 75, J Donaldson 73 75, L Westerberg (Swe) 74 74, T Srirot (Tha) 75 73, M Both (Aus) 71 77, J Bickerton 76 72, P Lawrie (Ire) 72 76, M Brier (Aut) 72 76, A Forsyth 71 77, G Evans 71 77, D Carter 74 74. 149 - J-F Remesy (Fra) 74 75, G Hanrahan (US) 72 77, J Dawes (Aus) 77 72, D McGrane (Ire) 75 74, E Michaels (US) 74 75, C Yuan-chi (Tai) 72 77, M Cayeux (Zim) 75 74, D Robertson 72 77, S Dyson 71 78, C Joon (Kor) 71 78, A Que (Phi) 75 74. 150 - S Strange (Aus) 76 74, E Romero (Arg) 75 75, R Moir (Aus) 73 77, S Lyle 73 77, A Oldcorn 74 76, I Garrido (Spa) 74 76. 151 - (x) N Y Saleh (Brn) 74 77, M Mamat (Sin) 74 77, U Park (Aus) 78 73, T Price (Aus) 74 77, M Cunning (US) 76 75. 152 - J-F Lucquin (Fra) 74 78, M Siem (Ger) 73 79, A Johl (Ind) 76 76, E Lee (Nzl) 76 76, K Felton (Aus) 77 75, H Kahlon (Ind) 74 78, P del Olmo (Mex) 79 73. 153 - P Sjoland (Swe) 77 76. 154 - M King 76 78, R Gibson (Can) 79 75, B Kennedy (Aus) 79 75, R Gangjee (Ind) 75 79, M Mackenzie 79 75, G Murphy (Ire) 77 77, M Bernardini (Ita) 80 74. 157 - C Kamps (Rsa) 81 76, C Tse-peng (Tai) 79 78. 158 - B Saltus (US) 79 79, R Lee (Nzl) 77 81. Ret: C Williams.
