Stenson roars into contention in Doha

Henrik Stenson turned his form on its head and charged back into contention for a second Commercialbank Qatar Masters victory today.

Down near the rear of the field after an opening 77, Stenson went to the turn in 31 on his return to the Doha course and was only four behind leaders Thomas Aiken and Retief Goosen.

After birdies at the 14th, 16th and short 17th, the 2006 champion eagled the 589-yard last before heading over to the front nine.

With overnight leader Goosen among the later starters, his fellow South African Aiken grabbed the opportunity to move alongside him on three under par by adding birdies at the second and seventh to his opening 71.

England’s former Ryder Cup star David Howell was another going well, hitting back from his first day 75 with four birdies in seven holes around the turn to climb to one under.

But Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey, the winners of the first two events on the European Tour’s Middle East swing, were deep in the pack.

Casey followed a birdie on the 11th with bogeys at the 13th and 15th to be three over and playing partner Kaymer, needing a top-two finish to have a chance of toppling Lee Westwood as world number one, was four over.

That represented an improvement for the 26-year-old German, though. He had slumped to an opening 77, but his first birdie of the week came on the 307-yard 16th.

The halfway cut was likely to be around the five over mark, so avoiding that was his first priority.

Westwood was another late starter and would be resuming on one over.