South African James Kingston reached the end of the day on nine under par, two ahead of England's David Howell with 32 holes to play tomorrow at the Qatar Masters in Doha. Kingston took the lead with a superb second round 67 and had time only to par the first four holes of his third round before darkness halted play.
Howell, three behind at halfway, had cut the gap with a birdie at the long first and was second on his own a stroke in front of David Dixon, leading amateur in the British Open two years ago, Australian Peter Fowler and South African Darren Fichardt, who had holed-in-one at the 224-yard third in his second round. Pre-tournament favourite Padraig Harrington is down in 43rd place on two over, but Ryder Cup team-mate Paul McGinley is still in the hunt at five under.
Players reacted with fury when the organisers decided to change the requirement for the halfway cut. With a massive 89 players reaching halfway on the three over par mark of 147 it was announced that, instead of the leading 70 and ties on three over par surviving the cut, only the top 54 on one over or better would go through. The action was deemed necessary to keep the event - delayed by a sandstorm on Thursday - as a 72-hole affair rather than make it only three rounds. But the anger was that, while tour regulations state it can happen any week, the players expected to be alerted to the possibility as the field completed the second round.
Peter Lawrie (-1) and Damien McGrane (+1) both survived the revised cut, however Gary Murphy (+8), Graham Spring (+8), Graeme McDowell (+5) and Stephen Browne (+10) all missed out. McGrane was level after five holes of his third round, while Lawrie was 4 over par after ten.
Filed by Johnny Proby
