Qatar's Saleh Al Kaabi hits his tee shot on the 6th hole during the second round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters at the Doha Golf Club yesterday.
Saleh Al Kaabi shot a second consecutive four-over-par 76 at the 20th Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, but left encouraged by his performance at Doha Golf Club despite missing the cut.
Making his fifth straight appearance in the European Tour event, Qatar’s top amateur birdied his opening hole at the 10th yesterday before running up a triple bogey at 14. He carded bogeys on holes one and six on his second nine.
Al Kaabi, 22, was more upbeat than on Thursday, as yesterday afternoon’s round was played in much windier conditions.
“I hit it well. I made the same score as yesterday, but today was much tougher conditions. It was really windy and there are not too many really low scores,” said Al Kaabi.
“I started well with a birdie on 10 and then had all pars until 14 when I had a triple bogey. I sliced the drive behind a rock, so had to chip sideways. It should have been a bogey or double, but I also missed a short putt. I had just two bad holes, but it was a good experience to play this tournament.”
Al Kaabi entered the tournament high on confidence after finishing third at November’s King Hamad Trophy in Bahrain, winning December’s SGF Open amateur tournament in Saudi Arabia and finishing runner-up at this month’s Qatar Open Amateur at Doha Golf Club.
“I know that I’m competing, especially this year. I can see there’s not a really big difference between my shots and the pros’. All the long shots are basically the same. Only the short game is different. I can learn more about the short game and that changes the score,” Al Kaabi said.
