Qatar Masters:There are parts of the Middle East where the sounds of explosions are ominous, but the two loud blasts that shook the buildings of Doha Golf Club during the opening round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters yesterday had no sinister overtones.
Dynamite was being used by workers to break up rocks on a nearby development site, making the unwary jump as club members shrugged their shoulders - they have had to put up with the inconvenience for months.
However, for golf's highly strung stars who can go ballistic at the sound of a grandma's whisper on their backswing, let alone an errant mobile ringtone, this was a potentially new test of nerve.
So it may not have been a coincidence that, with the possibility of another large explosion occurring at any moment, two of the sport's coolest customers spent most of the day at the top of the leaderboard.
As an afternoon starter Retief Goosen, who had barely showed a flicker of emotion when he recorded his two victories in the US Open, was not on the course when the two huge plumes of dust gave a new meaning to out-of-bounds. Clearly the threat of further interruption did not affect the South African, who took the lead with a seven-under-par 65, which should have been a shot better but for a missed 12-foot eagle opportunity when he drove the green at the par-four 16th.
"My game is not quite as good as it should be," said Goosen. "Hopefully this year I can start getting some good tournaments under my belt again and get myself back into that top three or so in the world rankings. I still have a lot of golf left in me, so I want to go through a few changes now since the end of last year.
"I feel by the time I start the Florida swing in a few weeks hopefully the things I'm working on will be grooved in a little bit more and I can concentrate on just playing golf and not thinking too much about the swing."
Earlier, Miguel Angel Jimenez, runner-up in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, had been walking between shots out on the course when the ground beneath him shook, but he barely broke stride on his way to a 66, joint second with the Australian Nick O'Hern.
"It was loud, but they were just breaking rocks. They were doing their job and I was doing mine so I decided to get on with it," said the Spaniard.
And though the 43-year-old is well placed going into the second round, he refuses to contemplate just yet going one better in Doha than last week.
"The week has just begun. I will it give it my best to be up there at the top but I am not the only one who is playing here," he said. "There are too many players and you never know what is going to happen."
No player would admit a shred of concern about the explosions, but England's John Bickerton, also out on the course in the morning, had reached another conclusion. "I just thought it was Paul Casey hitting another big drive," he said.
Sweden's Henrik Stenson, the defending champion, made a solid start with a 68.
Best of the Irish trio competing was Paul McGinley, who had three birdies and two bogeys in his 71 that left him tied for 36th.
Graeme McDowell double-bogeyed the par four 11th on his way to a 73, while Darren Clarke, on his return to competitive action this year, couldn't manage a single birdie in his 75 and will need something special today to make the cut.
Qutar Masters First Round Scores
(British unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)
65 - R Goosen (Rsa).
66 - MA Jimenez (Spa), N O'Hern (Aus).
67 - S Kapur (Ind).
68 - E Michaels (US), N Dougherty, R Green (Aus), H Stenson (Swe).
69 - JM Singh (Ind), Y Ali, A Coltart, M Mamat (Sin), E Els (Rsa), P Lawrie, W-c Liang (Chn), JY Suk (Kor), A Canete (Arg), C Phadungsil (Tha).
70 - M Pearce (Nzl), K Ferrie, R Karlsson (Swe), P Hanson (Swe), J Pagunsan (Phi), S Garcia (Spa), A Canizares (Spa), S Appleby (Aus), M Campbell (Nzl), P Price, S Strange (Aus), B Hume, G Fernandez-Castano (Spa), C Rodgers, A Quiros (Spa), K Webber (US), A Romero (Arg), D Bransdon (Aus), E Canonica (Ita).
71 - RJ Derksen (Ned), T Jaidee (Tha), P Meesawat (Tha), H Buhrmann (Rsa), P Marksaeng (Tha), B Dredge, A Haig (Rsa), S Webster, S Drummond, T Pilkadaris (Aus), P Broadhurst, T Srirot (Tha), M Both (Aus), I Garrido (Spa), L Westwood, Paul McGinley (Ire), S Hurd, J Randhawa (Ind).
72 - R Gibson (Can), R Gangjee (Ind), G Rusnak (US), S Kjeldsen (Den), S Hansen (Den), E Loar (US), A Kang (US), A Wall, M Warren, S Dodd, C Nirat (Tha), SSP Chowrasia (Ind), S Khan, S Benson, P Casey, T Carolan (Aus), G Simpson (Aus), K Horne (Rsa), P Archer.
73 - WC Lu (Tha), C Hanell (Swe), U Park (Aus), J Bickerton, O Fisher, JM Lara (Spa), J Edfors (Swe), N Fasth (Swe), Graeme McDowell (NIre), C DiMarco (US), T Wiratchant (Tha), D Lynn, C Plaphol (Tha), R Jacquelin (Fra), J Knutzon (US), R Muntz (Ned), A Que (Phi), C Monasterio (Arg), P O'Malley (Aus).
74 - F Molinari (Ita), J Sandelin (Swe), C Devers (US), S Yates, A Groom (Aus), A Johl (Ind), J-F Lucquin (Fra), D Chia (Myn), B Kennedy (Aus), A Blyth (Aus).
75 - F Minoza (Phi), J Haeggman (Swe), J Van de Velde (Fra), S Dyson, Darren Clarke (NIre), L Sung (Kor), S Barr (Aus), M Brier (Aut).
76 - J-W Park (Kor), A Le Vesconte (Aus), G Spring.
77 - B Saltus (US), G Ghei (Ind), A Noren (Swe). 79 - R Lee (Nzl), J-F Remesy (Fra). 80 - I Steel (Myn).
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