DOHA, February 2, 2012 (AFP) - Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano shot a six-under par 66 to take a one-shot lead over American John Daly after the first round of the 2.5 million dollar Qatar Masters on Thursday.
After Daly had stolen the thunder early in the day by firing a bogey-free 67, Fernandez-Castano produced a late charge to overtake him with a birdie on the last hole to set himself up nicely for the tournament.
Korean K.J. Choi and Australian Jason Day were in joint third place on 68 while former winner Paul Lawrie was in a bunch of five players a further shot behind on 69.
Yet, the top two couldn't have played more contrasting rounds.
While Daly was almost blemishless as a sandstorm ravaged the course, Fernandez-Castano's game was a mixed bag and the Spaniard must have left the course with a feeling of what could have been if he hadn't had those bogeys to go with his nine birdies.
But Fernandez-Castano would have to surrender the headlines to Daly, who gave a rare glimpse of his abundant natural talent in "brutal" conditions.
Looking much trimmer now, Daly, wearing colourful trousers and sporting a stubble, began steadily by parring his first two holes before picking up a shot on the next. He then stroked two more birdies before the turn even as the wind picked up.
A further two more birdies over the final three holes put the former US PGA Championship and British Open winner in a solid position to launch his bid to become the first American to win the tournament.
"It's one of the best rounds I've ever played in a wind like that," the 45-year-old said. "It was brutal. I mean I'm pretty shocked myself shooting five-under.
"I've had five and a half weeks off and didn't touch the clubs much, so being the first tournament of the year I am really happy."
Daly added that he felt like wearing a mask on the course.
"You really do. It's weird, you just feel like you are eating a lot of sand."
Daly said he was in no mood to practice on Thursday after finishing his round before noon. "I don't feel like eating more sand. Hopefully I'll lie down a bit. It's hard to work on your game in conditions like these."
Daly won the 1995 Open Championship at St. Andrews in similarly windy conditions -- without the sand, though -- but his last victory came eight years ago at the 2004 Buick Invitational.
Even that victory was his first in nine years on the US PGA Tour after which he rapidly went down and is now placed 543rd in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Big-hitting Alvaro Quiros, the 2009 champion, also looked in good form when he picked up shots over the first two holes but a double bogey on the eighth and two more bogeys later in the round saw him finish his first round at a level-par 72.
Defending champion Tomas Bjorn of Denmark had a nightmare first round 79, while former champions Henrik Stenson and Rolf Muntz fared much worse, shooting 81 and 82 respectively.
Results from the first round of the 2.5-million-dollar Qatar Masters on Thursday (GBR or IRL unless stated; par 72):
66 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP)
67 John Daly (USA)
68 K J Choi (KOR), Jason Day (AUS)
69 Peter Hanson (SWE), Richard Finch, Paul Lawrie, Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL), Danny Willett
70 Anders Hansen (DEN), James Kingston (RSA), Richard Green (AUS), George Coetzee (RSA), Oliver Fisher
71 Carlos Del Moral (ESP), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Soren Hansen (DEN), Jaco Van Zyl (RSA), Ben Curtis (USA), Martin Kaymer (GER), Peter Lawrie, Pablo Larrazabal (ESP), Graeme Storm, Jose-Maria Olazabal (ESP), Shaun Micheel (USA), Michael Jonzon (SWE), Gregory Havret (FRA), Michael Hoey, Lee Westwood, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA), Martin Wiegele (AUT), Marcel Siem (GER), Andrew Dodt (AUS), David Lynn, Simon Khan, Ricardo Gonzalez (ARG)
72 Robert Jan Derksen (NED), Chris Wood, Sergio Garcia (ESP), Oliver Wilson, Maarten Lafeber (NED), Peter Hedblom (SWE), Victor Dubuisson (FRA), Alvaro Quiros (ESP), Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Lee Slattery, Marc Warren, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN), Alejandro Canizares (ESP), Markus Brier (AUT), Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP)
73 Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Thomas Aiken (RSA), Mikko Ilonen (FIN), Jorge Campillo (ESP), Scott Jamieson, Gary Boyd, Niclas Fasth (SWE), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT), Marcus Fraser (AUS), Retief Goosen (RSA), Graeme McDowell, Matthew Zions (AUS), Richard McEvoy, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (IND), Alex Cejka (GER), David Drysdale, Stephen Gallacher, Romain Wattel (FRA), Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP), Keith Horne (RSA), Mark Foster
74 Christian Nilsson (SWE), Matteo Manassero (ITA), Phillip Price, Rhys Davies, Kenneth Ferrie, Brett Rumford (AUS), Anthony Wall, Hunter Mahan (USA), Federico Colombo (ITA)
75 Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), George Murray, Shiv Kapur (IND), Robert Coles, Branden Grace (RSA), Darren Fichardt (RSA), Richard S Johnson (SWE), Shane Lowry, Pablo Martin (ESP), Paul McGinley, Lorenzo Gagli (ITA), Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE)
76 Christian Cevaer (FRA), Richie Ramsay, Michael Campbell (NZL), David Howell, Gareth Maybin, Colin Montgomerie, Todd Hamilton (USA), Tom Lewis, Oscar Floren (SWE), Joel Sjoholm (SWE), Tommy Fleetwood, Benjamin Hebert (FRA)
77 Jamie Moul, Ricardo Santos (POR), Johan Edfors (SWE), James Morrison, Felipe Aguilar (CHI), Peter Uihlein (USA), Daniel Denison, Sam Little
78 Robert Karlsson (SWE), Max Williams, Damien McGrane, Peter Whiteford, Ignacio Garrido (ESP), Tano Goya (ARG), Raphael Jacquelin (FRA)
79 Jbe Kruger (RSA), Thomas Bjorn (DEN), Gregory Bourdy (FRA)
80 Bradley Dredge
81 Rolf Muntz (NED), Ross Fisher, Andrea Pavan (ITA), Jose Manuel Lara (ESP)
82 Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR), Henrik Stenson (SWE)
84 Ali Abdullah Al Bishi (QAT)
86 Yoseph Warren Dance (USA)