Bjorn claims Qatar lead

Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn birdied four of the last five holes to snatch the lead off Austrian Markus Brier with a round to go at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in Doha.

Bjorn followed up his second-day 65 with a 66 to reach 11 under par and is one ahead following Brier’s closing bogey six.

The 42-year-old, ranked only 478th in the world, had been three clear just an hour earlier but a 69 left him 10 under.

Defending champion Robert Karlsson, who birdied five of the last seven playing with Bjorn, is third at eight under, one in front of South African Thomas Aiken.

Earlier Martin Kaymer had a 68 to move up from 57th to 28th, but the German needs a top-two finish to take the world number one spot off Lee Westwood and he will resume 10 behind Bjorn.