Doha (QATAR): Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (pictured by Getty Images) defied a mini desert storm to shoot an opening round six-under par 66 to lead by one on the opening day of the $2.5 million Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy at Doha Golf Club

Caption: Fernando Gonzalez-Castano leads by one shot after the opening round of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters 

With a remarkable nine birdies helping to offset three dropped shots, Fernandez-Castano stole the lead at the top of the leaderboard from American John Daly who had earlier turned in a vintage first round performance on a day when high winds and sand storms threatened to blow away the 132-man field. 

“I would have taken level par in these conditions so I’m very happy with the outcome,” said the Spaniard. “I went out with no expectations and actually made more birdies than pars, which is unusual. The key was to be focused on every single shot and three birdies on the last three holes means I will sleep very well tonight.” 

Big-hitting former US PGA and Open Champion Daly is currently well down the world rankings at number 543 and playing in Doha on a sponsor’s invite. But the man from California rolled back the years with a superb five-under par 67 to hold second place one shot adrift of the early leader. 

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“It's brutal,” said Daly.”There’s no doubt it's absolutely brutal. You just feel like you have cotton in your mouth with sand in your eyes and your hair so you just have to hang in there. 

“But for me it's probably one of the best rounds I've ever played in wind like that because you can hit some decent shots and it can get away from you so fast, especially when the course is as tough as this. I haven’t really played for about five weeks aside from a spot of chipping and putting with my son so you could say I’ve kind of surprised myself a little. There were a lot of cross winds and sand blowing around which made it really difficult.”

No American has ever tasted victory in Doha but the flamboyant Daly looked to be at ease over the 7,414-yard course. The 45-year old carded five birdies in a flawless round, while Korean KJ Choi Australia’s Jason Day – both making their first appearances in the desert state – enjoyed bogey-free rounds of 68 (-4) to share third. 

Staged in collaboration with the Qatar Golf Association (QGA), the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and title sponsors The Commercial Bank of Qatar, the four-day event features seven of the top twenty players in the Official World Golf Rankings. 

Also performing well on a difficult opening day was another former Open Champion Paul Lawrie of Scotland who shot a three-under par 69 to share fifth alongside Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, Swede Peter Hanson and English pair Richard Finch and Danny Willett. 

“It's blowing a wee bit and obviously the sand is going to cause a little bit of hassle as you can't see very far,” said Lawrie, a former champion in Qatar who also finished eighth in last week’s Abu Dhabi Championship. “But I played nicely again and hit the ball extremely well. I was a little bit disappointed with the finish last week but it's quite nice when you're disappointed with an eighth place as you're obviously playing well.” 

Elsewhere, World Number Three Lee Westwood and World Number Four Martin Kaymer both recorded a one under par 71 alongside European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal and Italy’s Francesco Molinari. 

There was a quiet start for another former champion Spaniard Alvaro Quiros who finished with a level par 72. In the last three Commercialbank Qatar Masters, Quiros has finished first in 2009 and second in 2010 and 2011 with the Spaniard 41-under-par for his previous twelve rounds at Doha Golf Club, a figure that remains the same after his even progress on day one. Also on level par after the opening round was Quiros’ fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia, while 2011 champion Thomas Bjorn endured a miserable start to his defence with a 79 (+7).  

2012 Qatar Master 1st Round Leaderboard (par 72):-

 1 Gonzalo FDEZ-CASTAÑO ESP  66 66 -6

 2 John DALY USA  67 67 -5

 3 Jason DAY AUS  68 68 -4

  K J CHOI KOR  68 68 -4

 5 Danny WILLETT ENG  69 69 -3

  Richard FINCH ENG  69 69 -3

  Nicolas COLSAERTS BEL  69 69 -3

  Paul LAWRIE SCO  69 69 -3

  Peter HANSON SWE  69 69 -3

 10 George COETZEE RSA  70 70 -2

  Richard GREEN AUS  70 70 -2

  Oliver FISHER ENG  70 70 -2

  Anders HANSEN DEN  70 70 -2

  James KINGSTON RSA  70 70 -2

 15 Francesco MOLINARI ITA  71 71 -1

  Peter LAWRIE IRL  71 71 -1

  Marcel SIEM GER  71 71 -1

  Graeme STORM ENG  71 71 -1

  Carlos DEL MORAL ESP  71 71 -1

  Jaco VAN ZYL RSA  71 71 -1

  Lee WESTWOOD ENG  71 71 -1

  Michael HOEY NIR  71 71 -1

  Søren HANSEN DEN  71 71 -1

  José María OLAZÁBAL ESP  71 71 -1

  Andrew DODT AUS  71 71 -1

  David LYNN ENG  71 71 -1

  Martin WIEGELE AUT  71 71 -1

  Grégory HAVRET FRA  71 71 -1

  Jean-Baptiste GONNET FRA  71 71 -1

  Shaun MICHEEL USA  71 71 -1

  Martin KAYMER GER  71 71 -1

  Ricardo GONZALEZ ARG  71 71 -1

  Simon KHAN ENG  71 71 -1

  Ben CURTIS USA  71 71 -1

  Michael JONZON SWE  71 71 -1

  Pablo LARRAZÁBAL ESP  71 71 -1

 37 Sergio GARCIA ESP  72 72 0

  Victor DUBUISSON FRA  72 72 0

  Thorbjørn OLESEN DEN  72 72 0

  Alvaro QUIROS ESP  72 72 0

  Alejandro CAÑIZARES ESP  72 72 0

  Markus BRIER AUT  72 72 0

  Peter HEDBLOM SWE  72 72 0

  Marc WARREN SCO  72 72 0

  Chris WOOD ENG  72 72 0

  Maarten LAFEBER NED  72 72 0

  Lee SLATTERY ENG  72 72 0

  Rafael CABRERA-BELLO ESP  72 72 0

  Thongchai JAIDEE THA  72 72 0

  Oliver WILSON ENG  72 72 0

  Robert-Jan DERKSEN NED  72 72 0

 52 Miguel Angel JIMÉNEZ ESP  73 73 1

  Retief GOOSEN RSA  73 73 1

  Jorge CAMPILLO ESP  73 73 1

  David DRYSDALE SCO  73 73 1

  Alex CEJKA GER  73 73 1    

  Mikko ILONEN FIN  73 73 1

  Keith HORNE RSA  73 73 1

  Romain WATTEL FRA  73 73 1

  Stephen GALLACHER SCO  73 73 1

  Marcus FRASER AUS  73 73 1

  Thomas AIKEN RSA  73 73 1

  Mark FOSTER ENG  73 73 1

  Søren KJELDSEN DEN  73 73 1

  Matthew ZIONS AUS  73 73 1

  Niclas FASTH SWE  73 73 1

  Gary BOYD ENG  73 73 1

  Bernd WIESBERGER AUT  73 73 1

  S.S.P CHOWRASIA IND  73 73 1

  Graeme MCDOWELL NIR  73 73 1

  Scott JAMIESON SCO  73 73 1

  Richard MCEVOY ENG  73 73 1

 73 Phillip PRICE WAL  74 74 2

  Kenneth FERRIE ENG  74 74 2

  Anthony WALL ENG  74 74 2

  Matteo MANASSERO ITA  74 74 2

  Brett RUMFORD AUS  74 74 2

  Federico COLOMBO ITA  74 74 2

  Christian NILSSON SWE  74 74 2

  Rhys DAVIES WAL  74 74 2

  Hunter MAHAN USA  74 74 2

 82 Fredrik ANDERSSON HED SWE  75 75 3

  George MURRAY SCO  75 75 3

  Shiv KAPUR IND  75 75 3

  Pablo MARTIN ESP  75 75 3

  Robert COLES ENG  75 75 3

  Shane LOWRY IRL  75 75 3

  Branden GRACE RSA  75 75 3

  Darren FICHARDT RSA  75 75 3

  Lorenzo GAGLI ITA  75 75 3

  Paul MCGINLEY IRL  75 75 3

  Richard S JOHNSON SWE  75 75 3

  Jeev Milkha SINGH IND  75 75 3

 94 Tommy FLEETWOOD ENG  76 76 4

  Michael CAMPBELL NZL  76 76 4

  Richie RAMSAY SCO  76 76 4

  Todd HAMILTON USA  76 76 4

  Gareth MAYBIN NIR  76 76 4

  Christian CÉVAËR FRA  76 76 4

  Benjamin HEBERT FRA  76 76 4

  Joel SJÖHOLM SWE  76 76 4

  Colin MONTGOMERIE SCO  76 76 4

  David HOWELL ENG  76 76 4

  Oscar FLOREN SWE  76 76 4

  Tom LEWIS ENG  76 76 4

106 James MORRISON ENG  77 77 5

  Felipe AGUILAR CHI  77 77 5

  Johan EDFORS SWE  77 77 5

  Daniel DENISON ENG  77 77 5

  Peter UIHLEIN USA  77 77 5

  Ricardo SANTOS POR  77 77 5

  Jamie MOUL ENG  77 77 5

  Sam LITTLE ENG  77 77 5

114 Damien MCGRANE IRL  78 78 6

  Robert KARLSSON SWE  78 78 6

  Raphaël JACQUELIN FRA  78 78 6

  Ignacio GARRIDO ESP  78 78 6

  Peter WHITEFORD SCO  78 78 6

  Tano GOYA ARG  78 78 6

  Max WILLIAMS (AM) ENG  78 78 6

121 Grégory BOURDY FRA  79 79 7

  Jbe KRUGER RSA  79 79 7

  Thomas BJÖRN DEN  79 79 7

124 Bradley DREDGE WAL  80 80 8

125 Ross FISHER ENG  81 81 9

  Andrea PAVAN ITA  81 81 9

  Rolf MUNTZ NED  81 81 9

  José Manuel LARA ESP  81 81 9

129 Fabrizio ZANOTTI PAR  82 82 10

  Henrik STENSON SWE  82 82 10

131 Ali Abdullah AL BISHI (AM) QAT  84 84 12

132 Yoseph Warren DANCE (AM) USA  86 86 14