Modest starts for Sandhu, Sharma as Reed continues his fine run in Qatar

Doha, Feb 6 (PTI) Indian golfers Yuvraj Sandhu and Shubhankar Sharma made modest starts at the Qatar Masters even as Patrick Reed continued his amazing run on the DP World Tour here.

Sandhu (72), with an even par round, was T-70, while Sharma (73) was T-85.

Reed and Daniel Hillier share a one-stroke lead after opening with rounds of 65 at Doha Golf Club.

The 2018 Masters champion Reed sits in pole position on the International Swing rankings after winning a maiden Rolex Series title at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic before following it up with a runner-up finish at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship last week.

He continued his rich vein of form in Qatar as he moved to seven under par to set the initial clubhouse target.

Sandhu was 2-over through 15 holes before back to back birdies brought some semblance of order to his round.

Sharma had four birdies against three bogeys and a double, as both Indians faced the danger of an early exit.

Reed, starting from the tenth, made the perfect start with three consecutive birdies. A bogey and another birdie meant his first par did not come until his sixth hole, the 15th, and he had only two in an outward nine of 31 thanks to further gains at the 16th and 17th.

He birdied the first, fourth and seventh before dropping a shot at the par three eighth hole.

There was a strong Scandinavian presence in the chasing pack, with Sweden's Marcus Kinhult, Dane Jacob Skov Olesen and Finland's Oliver Lindell all at six under.

They were joined late in the day by Spain's Angel Ayora and Italy's Gregorio De Leo, the latter ending his round with a bogey at the ninth hole to deny him a share of the lead.

Another Swede, Joakim Lagergren, was five under alongside New Zealand's Kazuma Kobori.

Padraig Harrington reached a major career milestone at the Qatar Masters, making his 500th start on the DP World Tour -- becoming just the 50th player in Tour history to achieve the feat more than 30 years after making his debut at the 1995 Smurfit European Open. PTI Corr PDS PDS PDS