McDowell well placed in Qatar

Graeme McDowell is in a share of third, two shots off the lead, after shooting an impressive 66 in his opening round at the Qatar Masters.

Without a win since the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in November 2015, McDowell has pledged to play a more patient game in 2017 and his plan got off to a brilliant start as he carded a pleasing round in Doha.

Starting on the back nine, the 2010 US Open winner opened with three consecutive birdies before picking up shots at the 14th, 16th and 18th to reach the turn in 30.

He added another birdie to move to seven-under-par and a four-shot lead on the field, but he was unable to maintain his run as he bogeyed the sixth to drop back to six-under.

"First round and tournament of the year and to birdie 10, 11, 12 was a special way to start and certainly got me in a very relaxed frame of mind," McDowell told reporters.

"It was nice to keep building and keep hitting good shots but there is a long way to go. There are lots of good players here and I'll definitely keep the head down and hope to keep playing well.

"It's always been one of those courses that appealed to me on a lot of levels. Conditions being tougher, I typically play tough courses well and to go out and post a low one this morning was a nice start to proceedings.

"I felt good on the greens, my iron play was very good and I got the ball in play mostly off the tee. It's only round one but I liked the way I felt out there."

With McDowell setting the clubhouse lead, Welshman Bradley Dredge went out and posted a brilliant eight-under 64 for the outright lead, one clear of Finland's Mikko Korhonen.

Conditions had been expected to deteriorate as the afternoon wore on but the expected gusts never materialised, allowing the late starts to put together some impressive scores.

Korhonen took the lead after making birdies on the tenth, 12th, 13th, 16th, 18th and first before adding another on the fourth but a run of five pars opened the door for Dredge.

The Welshman birdied the fifth, fifth and eighth but a run of three in four holes after the turn saw him power up the leaderboard and he moved into the lead with birdies on the 15th and 16th.

"I understood that today, scoring was going to be good. It was the opportunity to go at more flags and get the ball a bit closer to the hole," he said.

"Without the wind, it sort of makes it a lot easier to get the score going and get the putts in and get in with some sort of number.

"I prefer it a little bit more windy. I'm a bit more used to playing the wind, I suppose. I quite like it and I get used to it around here as well. It's quite a good challenge. The greens are always firm, so it's always tough to get the ball close to the hole.

"I'm delighted with the score today. A bit surprised, I thought I was going to hit the ball a bit better off the tee than I did but I hit a few more fairways. I putted really well."

Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Nathan Kimsey are in a share of third alongside McDowell, while Ireland's Paul Dunne is a shot further back on five-under after an opening 67.

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