PAUL LAWRIE credited a putting tip from compatriot Marc Warren for getting him in pole position for a third victory in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
The Scot's first win in Qatar came in 1999, the same year as his Open triumph at Carnoustie, with the second in 2012 helping him secure a Ryder Cup return at Medinah after an absence of 13 years.
The 47-year-old also won the Johnnie Walker Championship in 2012 and, although he has not tasted victory on the European Tour since, a second round of 66 at Doha Golf Club gave him the lead on 11 under par, one shot ahead of Ryder Cup team-mate Nicolas Colsaerts.
"Marc Warren had a wee look at me when I missed the cut in Abu Dhabi and he said the same as everyone else," Lawrie said yesterday. "My putting stroke is too long, it needs to be a little shorter and a little quicker, so I've been working on it the last couple days and certainly feels as though I've got it.
"I hit a lot of putts when I missed the cut last week. All day Sunday I did a lot of work and then came here and I've hit thousands of putts since I got here. So it's only taken a couple days and it feels comfortable."
Starting on the back nine, Lawrie birdied the 10th and 12th before dropping just his second shot of the week on the 15th, but bounced back with birdies on the 16th and 18th to reach the turn in 33.
With the wind forecast to strengthen during the day, the early starters knew they needed to take advantage of the better conditions and Lawrie did just that, carding birdies on the fourth, seventh and ninth.
Lawrie added: "They put the tees forward [on Wednesday], thinking the wind was going to blow pretty hard, and then this morning it was dead calm, so I got a little frustrated after 15 because I thought you are not taking advantage of the conditions.
"My attitude is normally pretty good when it gets blowy because if you get a bit grumpy and a bit grizzly, as I tend to do, when it's windy you're going to struggle. I tend to accept things a bit better when it's windy and that's what you've got to do. I think a lot of guys kind of struggle to accept the conditions. They are not going to change, you've just got to get on with it."
Colsaerts, who has not won since the Volvo World Match Play Championship in 2012, coped admirably with the tougher afternoon conditions, carding three birdies, an eagle and a solitary bogey to add a 68 to his opening 66.
The big-hitting 33-year-old is eight-under par for the par fives this week, although the change in course set up did not necessarily do him any favours.
"They have moved a lot of tees forward on holes where I have an advantage over the field, but it sort of brought back everybody into the field on certain holes," Colsaerts said.
"My front nine was a bit scruffy. There's probably a few shots that I would like to have back and then I made a fantastic eagle on the first, my 10th, that sort of got me back into the rhythm that I was hoping for."
England's Andrew Johnston, Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello and France's Gregory Bourdy are a shot further back, Bourdy's 68 featuring a hole-in-one on the eighth – the first in the history of the event.
Former champion Sergio Garcia is one of five players a shot further back on eight under after adding a 66 to his opening 70 despite again missing a number of good birdie chances.
The world No.12 partially made amends by holing a curling putt from 40 feet on the eighth which drew some exuberant celebrations from the 36-year-old, who was asked if they were new dance moves by TV interviewer Nick Dougherty.
"Well, I don't know if they were dance moves. They were like jabs," Garcia joked. "When we got to the ninth tee I said to my caddie and to the guys that celebration I think is going to look a little bit funny on TV."
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