Spain's Otaegui leads at Qatar halfway stage

Three birdies on the final three holes gave Spain's Adrian Otaegui a one shot lead at the halfway stage of the Qatar Masters on Friday. His grandstand finish gave him a round of 66 for the day and leaves him at eleven under par, one shot ahead of a group of four players. That followed a bogey-free round of 67 on the first day for the player from the Basque region, as he took full advantage of calm conditions. "There was no wind, it's a low-scoring course this year so I think there was no real difference in the first two days," he said. "I'm really looking forward to the weekend now. I just wanted to stay patient hole-after-hole and we'll see what happens." In the group just behind Otaegui are South Africa's Erik Van Rooyen and Scotland's Stephen Gallacher as well as France's Gregory Havret and England's Eddie Pepperell, the latter two starting the day as joint leaders. It promises to be a tight finish over the final two days as there are 33 players within five shots of the lead. Among those missing the cut though was defending champion Jeunghun Wang. The South Korean started the day just three shots off the lead but followed up a first day 68 with a disastrous 75 to finish one under. The cut was placed at four under.