Stenson's form holds in Qatar

In-form Henrik Stenson went clear at the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in Doha.

The big-hitting Swede powered his way to a one-stroke lead over Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez with another performance that added weight to his claims for a Ryder Cup spot in the autumn.

Stenson, runner-up to Chris DiMarco in Abu Dhabi last week, fired off five birdies and a solitary bogey in his four-under-par round of 68.

The 29-year-old expressed some dissatisfaction with his short game but in challenging breezy conditions on a tight course it was just one behind the day’s lowest of 67.

One of those who shot a 67 was Englishman Nick Dougherty, who lies two shots off the lead in third place, tied at eight under with countryman Richard Finch.

The Merseysider is not completely at ease with changes to his swing but made light of any problems by shooting six birdies and, for the second day running, no bogeys.

Dougherty said: “I’m not playing my best at the moment unfortunately but I’m not too far away.

“I’m trying to get to grips with the technique, but all in all, a very good result for the first two days.”

Like Stenson, Gonzalez’s form in Abu Dhabi last week has translated into two solid scores so far in Doha.

He picked up a shot at his opening hole and followed that with successive birdies at four and five, before two bogeys in three holes looked to have slowed his charge.

But he responded immediately with a birdie at the next, reeled off a string of pars before a fifth birdie at the 16th moved him into second place, despite problems with his legs.

“They are quite sore and tired,” he said. “I don’t know why, maybe it’s the pressure of being up there with the leaders again, but other than that I am happy after two rounds.”

Finch dropped only one shot and made five birdies to leave himself a strong position going into the third day.

Ernie Els and Vijay Singh again failed to fire, turning in a pair of scrappy rounds not befitting their status in the world’s top five.

Fiji’s Singh, who had complained about his putting yesterday, was particularly off his game, recording almost as many bogeys (four) as he did birdies (five) for a one-under round which left him level par heading into the weekend.

His South African rival also struggled, his second successive one under par 71 compromised by three costly bogeys, but he still equalled Bernhard Langer’s record of 69 successive European Tour tournament cuts made.

England’s Lee Westwood was another out of touch, having shot an opening-round 69, he would have been left unhappy with an error-riddled 77, which started with two bogeys and hardly improved better.

Danny Denison, the Yorkshire amateur who had seized the headlines on the opening day, was brought back to earth with a bump.

The 20-year-old was one off the lead at the start of play, but four bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine meant he ended with a sobering six-over-par 78.

Still, his objective was met after he made the cut.

Paul McGinley was best placed of the Irish at five under. Peter Lawrie was at one under and Damien McGrane made no improvement on yesterday's par.