Swedes lead the way in Qatar

Swedes Joachim Haeggman and Klas Eriksson both fired bogey-free rounds of 66 to share the lead after the opening round of the Qatar Masters.

In the blistering heat at the Doha club, they lead by one from Denmark's Soren Hansen, Ian Garbutt of England and Australia's Adam Scott on 5-under-par 68 with holder Tony Johnstone of Zimbabwe nicely placed on 4-under after an opening 68.

Johnstone was in a 12-way tie on 4-under, alongside the likes of Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and England's David Howell.

Eriksson got off to the best start imaginable when he captured birdies at the opening three holes, and three more birdies on the back nine rounded off his terrific opening.

''It was one of my best ever rounds today,'' said Eriksson, who lost his Tour card in 1998. ''I didn’t make any mistakes and was able to hit it exactly where I wanted it to go, so I was very happy.

''I played well last weekend in Dubai and finished 12th and I gained a little bit more confidence from that because I felt like my ball striking had improved. On the range this week, I hit the ball better than I had ever done so I had good expectations coming into the week,'' he added.

Johnstone's round was one of two halves.

Starting on the 10th, Johnstone birdied 10, 11, 14, 16 and 18 with his only bogey coming at the 15th.

The front nine was a different story, with nine straight pars keeping him at 4-under.

After issing the cut in each of his first three events of 2002, Montgomerie looked much more at ease as he completed a bogey-free round.

The Scot picked up birdies at the fourth, sixth, 14th and 15th to finish on 4-under-par, bang in contention.

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