Oliver Fisher of England plays a shot during the third round of the Qatar Masters golf tournament at the Doha Golf Club in Doha, yesterday.
Doha: English duo Oliver Fisher and Eddie Pepperell will take a share of the lead into the final round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in Doha.
Fisher birdied the closing four holes to storm through the pack thanks to a third-round 65.
Fisher rolled in a succession of mid-range putts to join compatriot Pepperell, who birdied the par-five 18th to shoot 66 and share the lead.
The pair have not enjoyed the best of starts to the season, with six missed cuts from 10 combined events, but they found their form impressively in Doha and will head into final round at 16 under, two shots clear of American Sean Crocker.
Italian duo Lorenzo Gagli and Andrea Pavan, Frenchman Grégory Havret, England’s David Horsey and Swede Marcus Kinhult are two shots further back at 12 under.
“I’m very pleased with my day today and looking forward to tomorrow,” said Fisher, who is searching for his first win on the European Tour since the 2011 Czech Open.
“The important thing for me is to make sure I give myself enough time with things, to make sure I’m aware of what I’m doing and try and enjoy it as much as I can, I did that today. My caddie was great.
“I gave myself some chances coming in and thankfully I made them.” Pepperell found some brilliant form at the end of 2017, securing four top fives and three top tens from his last ten events but he missed his first two cuts this season before playing the weekend in Malaysia and Oman.
The 27-year-old has been working with a new coach recently and the work looks to be paying dividends as he shares the lead after 54 holes for the second time at a European Tour event in search of a first title.
“I would say that was my best round, especially with the position I was in going into the day. I hit a lot of good shots, I maybe lost a little feeling through the turn, but I bounced back nicely and I didn’t let it bother me,” said Pepperell.
“That’s a nice score and coming down the last few holes, certainly down the last seeing Oli on 16 under, I didn’t want to finish behind the leader so I’m happy to be at least tied.” Spanish duo Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and Pablo Larrazábal, English pair James Morrison and Chris Wood, Swede Joakim Lagergren, Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Japan’s Hideto Tanihara were at 11 under.
Meanwhile local interest was piqued by MENA Golf Tour professional Josh White of England, who qualified by winning the professional division of the 2018 Qatar Open to gain his spot this week and has performed superbly. Having made the cut with rounds of 67,73, White shot an impressive third round of 69 yesterday to sit in a share of 43rd place at seven under par heading into today’s final round.
The final round gets underway at Doha Golf Club at 6.30am.
