Brandon Robinson Thompson will take a two-stroke lead into the weekend at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters after reaching ten under par after the second round at Doha Golf Club.
The Englishman, who graduated from the HotelPlanner Tour after finishing 18th on last year’s Road to Mallorca Rankings, carded a four-under-par second round of 68 to reach double figures.
The 32-year-old carded two birdies and an eagle in his bogey-free effort and he holds the halfway lead for the first time in his DP World Tour career.
Brandon Robinson Thompson: A great morning. It was tough, actually. The wind was ripping early. I thought the pins were quite tricky, so it was a lot of discipline.
I hit a lot of shots to 30-40 feet and took my two putts and tried to take advantage of holes I could give myself chances on.
Snuck one in on 16, hit driver to three or four feet. Happy with how I stayed patient and it’s good to finish bogey-free.
I’ve been here so many times. I used to come here every year for about five or six years. I’ve played this course 50 or 60 times.
I’m so comfortable out here. There isn’t a shot that I probably haven’t seen already and I have a bit of support out here. I’ve had a lot of friends I’ve met who have come out and support me.
It’s like a home game for me and that’s where the confidence and comfort comes from.
Two shots behind are the Chinese pair of Ding Wenyi and Li Haotong who both carded five-under-par rounds of 67 to move to eight under.
Ding Wenyi: I felt really lucky. The first two rounds I’ve made a lot of long putts and the chip-in eagle on number ten. It was pretty good.
(On ten) I had 210 yards for my second shot and I hit a little bit of a flier. It rolled just behind the green and I chipped it in from the back.
I didn’t play really good. I lost myself with the driver. I had some really good chips and made some pars.
They are joined in a share of second place by MK Kim of South Korea. Kim is the youngest winner in HotelPlanner Tour history after claiming the D+D REAL Czech Challenge title in 2018 at the age of 17.
In a share of fifth are last year’s Hero Indian Open winner Keita Nakajima of Japan and Englishman Dan Brown on seven under.
History was made this week as Jean Bekirian became the first Armenian representative to make the cut at a DP World Tour event, carding a two over par 74 to finish the day in a share of 34th place on two under.
