Van Zyl back with a bang

JACO van Zyl, celebrated his return to Qatar in some style with an opening five-under-par 67 in the first round of The European Tour’s Commerical Bank Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club yesterday.

He made six birdies and a bogey to put himself into early contention in a tournament he hasn’t played in for some years.

“I normally just go to Dubai, and figured I haven’t done the full Desert Swing in a long time. I’ve got fairly good memories of Qatar, so here we are,” he said.

He started his round with a flourish, with three birdies in the opening four holes, but he dropped a shot on the sixth. He got things running again on the back nine, with three birdies in succession from the 12th to the 14th. “I got off to a nice start this morning and just managed to build on it,” he said. “At 10, you always kind of feel that’s one to take advantage of. I parred there, and I just missed a very makeable birdie putt on 11. “So you know, to get one on 12 kind of got the momentum going, and made a nice one on 13 and hit a great shot into 14. A little disappointed. Always feels like you’ve left one out there, if you don’t at least get one playing 16, 17, 18,” he added. He’s relishing a good start to his 2017 European Tour campaign. “It’s been solid,” he said. “No fireworks. Pretty much the whole season last year, I didn’t miss many cuts, but not very good finishes. So, I’m going to try and build on that this year.” – ANA