Gonzalez and Stenson take opening honours

Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez and Swede Henrik Stenson shared the Qatar Masters lead on six-under-par 66 after Vijay Singh and Ernie Els failed to fire in the first round on Thursday.

Fiji's Singh, the highest-ranked player in the field, ended on 73 while last year's champion Els shot 71.

English amateur Danny Denison, Thailand's Chawalit Plaphol and 2003 champion Darren Fichardt of South Africa were tied for second on 67 in the $2 million European Tour event.

Big-hitting Gonzalez, who finished fourth in Abu Dhabi last week, dropped just one shot and hit seven birdies.

"I think I'm feeling my best form again. I'll try to make it (win) this week," Gonzales said.

"I drove the green on four which was about a 380-yard shot. Vijay was on the green and I apologised to him.

"I didn't expect to hit the green but I really killed the ball and there was a bit of a downwind. I hit it to nine feet and then missed the eagle putt."

Stenson, second in Abu Dhabi and second here last year, was also in terrific form. He had an eagle on the par-four 16th and six birdies.

Denison earned an entry to the Qatar Masters by virtue of his victory in the Qatar Open in December. He put on a masterly performance and the experience of playing the Doha Golf Club in December came in handy for the 20-year-old Yorkshireman.

Denison sank six birdies and would have had a share of the early lead with Gonzalez were it not for a bogey at the last.

"My first goal was to make the cut. I just wanted to prepare as normal for a tournament and just forget who was in the field and thankfully I did," Denison said.

"I just tried to block out everything that was going around and tried to play my own game and it worked."

South Africa's Els, who mixed three birdies and two bogeys, felt he could have done better.

"I didn't play well on the front nine and I made some mistakes but on the back nine I played a lot better. Hopefully I can play a little bit better tomorrow," the world number five said.

World number two Singh, who teed off from the 10th hole along with European Order of Merit leader David Howell and Asian number one Thaworn Wiratchant, started well with a birdie.

A bogey at the 15th was his only other variation on par on his front nine, which he completed in 36.

Singh found the going tougher on his return and three bogeys against two birdies left him a shot off par.

"I didn't get it going today. It wasn't all that tough, but I just didn't get it going," Singh said.

"I didn't actually play that badly, I had chances coming up. But I didn't take them and every time I missed the green I seemed to make a bogey."