Spain's Pablo Larrazabal set the clubhouse target in the first round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters as f ormer Open champion Louis Oosthuizen again threatened to make his trademark flying start to the year.
Larrazabal carded seven birdies in a flawless 65 at Doha Golf Club, but Oosthuizen was just a shot behind with two holes remaining as the players made light of the relatively cool and breezy conditions.
Oosthuizen has a remarkable record in his first event of the calendar year, winning the Africa Open in 2011 and 2012 and following that with consecutive victories in the Volvo Golf Champions in 2013 and 2014.
Injury meant the South African did not start his 2015 campaign until March, but his first event produced a sixth-placed finish in the WGC-Cadillac Championship and he went on to lose out in a play-off for the Open and finish joint second in the US Open.
The 33-year-old has not played competitively since finishing joint 11th in the Nedbank Golf Challenge on December 6, but felt refreshed after such a lengthy break and was showing no signs of rust on Wednesday.
Starting on the back nine, Oosthuizen birdied his first two holes and also picked up shots on the 16th and 18th to reach the turn in 32, while birdies on the first and sixth took him to six under par.
England's Tommy Fleetwood and Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts were a shot behind approaching the end of their rounds, with English duo Robert Rock and Callum Shinkwin and Scotland's Clarke Lutton safely in the clubhouse on four under.
Source: PA
