Denison makes his mark

Danny Denison made light of his amateur status to leave his mark on day one of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in Doha.

Playing in his first professional tournament, the 20-year-old’s five-under-par 67 was bettered only by Argentinian Ricardo Gonzalez and Henrik Stenson, of Sweden.

Denison, from Leeds, will start his second round just one shot off the lead after shooting six birdies and bogeying just once – crucially at the last.

He said: “I just tried to block out everything that was going on around me and tried to play my own game.

“But I know how to prepare for tournaments and I was hitting it well before, so I knew if I got the putter rolling well too I would be in with a good shout of shooting a low score.”

Stenson and Gonzalez turned in a pair of impressive six-under-par rounds of 66, maintaining their form from the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship last weekend when both finished in the top four.

Gonzalez shot seven birdies, dropping only one shot – while Stenson was a little more erratic, bogeying twice but making six birdies and a brilliant eagle at the 16th.

The duo are one clear of Denison, Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol – whose round contained six birdies – and South African Darren Fichardt, who did not drop a shot.

Pre-tournament favourites Ernie Els and Vijay Singh were unable to live up to their billing.

Fijian Singh, the world number two, had dismissed fears about his putting before the event but accepted he needed to change his putter after making only two birdies all day in a one-over-par round of 73.

World number five Els looked a little rusty in what was his first event of 2006 – dropping two shots on the front nine but making birdies at the 10th, the 14th and the 16th to lie one under overnight.

The South African said: “I didn’t play well on the front nine and I made some mistakes – but on the back nine I played a lot better. One under par when I wasn’t at my best is not too bad.”

Jean Van de Velde will have reason to rue his see-saw round of 69 – which still leaves him well-placed – because undeniably his score should have been a lot lower.

Starting on the back nine, four successive birdies from the off were followed by a triple bogey at the 15th; then two birdies to give him 32 at the turn.

The Frenchman then recorded three birdies in his next six holes to assume a one-shot lead – before a pair of triple bogeys, sandwiching a birdie, dropped him off the overnight leaderboard to minus three.

Other than Denison, the top-placed Briton were Richard Finch and Graeme Storm, who shot four-under 68s.

Two birdies in his last three holes helped Ryder Cup hopeful Nick Dougherty finish with a flourish and leave him at three under overnight, along with a group containing Lee Westwood and Paul McGinley.

Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane both finished the day at par.