Welshman Bradley Dredge, who carded an even par 72 following a sizzling opening 64, held onto his overnight lead but now has eight players for company at the summit on -8.

There was a nine-way tie for the first-round lead at The Celtic Manor Wales Open in 1997 but never before in European Tour history have nine players shared the lead after 36-holes.

Another seven players are a shot adrift and with the cut made at -2, 70 players in total have made the weekend at Doha Golf Club. Each and every one of them is a genuine chance in the filling event of the European Tour’s tasty Desert Swing sandwich.

Koren Jeunghun Wang, a two-time winner last season and the European Tour’s Rookie-of-the-Year, and Spaniard Jorge Campillo made the biggest impression on the leaderboard Friday with second round 67s seeing them leapfrog 28 places into a share of the lead.

Also tied at the top are Englishman Andy Sullivan (68), Spaniard Nacho Elvira (69), Finn Mikko Orhonen (71), Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat (70, pictured above) and South Africans Jaco Van Zyl (69) and Thomas Aiken (68).

A @EuropeanTour first…

We have a nine (yes nine!) way tie for the lead after 36 holes. pic.twitter.com/fQYjKI6K1U

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 27, 2017

Among those to make the cut was Englishman Chris Paisley whose luck turned on the 17th hole when he sucked a 9 iron into the cup on the 135-yard par 3.

Paisley scored $150,000 from Qatar Duty Free for the ace and eased into the weekend at -3 after rounds of 74-67.

Ace!@ChrisPaisley86 makes a hole-in-one from 135 yards at the 17th! pic.twitter.com/ml3Ga62UD9

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 27, 2017

“I was in between a wedge and a nine-iron, and decided to go with a little nine-iron. I just hit it perfectly and when it landed, I said, ‘go in’, and it did, so I’m just delighted,” said Paisley, who also birdied 18 for a tournament-changing 67.

“It was a great feeling, but strange, as I went 27 holes this week without making a birdie and was three-over-par, struggling to make the cut. All of a sudden I made a couple of birdies and had a hole-in-one and I was inside the cut mark. I suppose it shows you…never give up!”

Paisley joins Jarrod Lyle and Van Zyl as the only players to make an ace in the 2017 Race to Dubai so far.  It was his fifth ace but first on the European Tour and the 10th in the 20 editions of the Qatar Masters. He is the first to do so on the 17th hole since Warren Bennett 12 years ago.

Tommy Fleetwood was among the big names to miss the cut with rounds of 73-73 a week after capturing the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Other notable names with the weekend off are Matteo Manaserro, Thongchai Jaidee (both -1) and Stephen Gallagher at +2 alongside Fleetwood.

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The 43-year-old Welshman took advantage of benign conditions at Doha Golf Club Thursday to fire a flawless eight birdie 64. He edged Finn Mikko Korhonen (65) while Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat, England’s Nathan Kimsey and Northern Ireland’s former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell carded 66s to be two shots back.

Dredge is in the second group off the 10th tee at 6.40am Friday and knows with the breathless conditions expected to last until at least lunchtime that he has a grand opportunity to extend his lead going into the weekend.

“I’m delighted with the score today,” he said. “A bit surprised, I thought I was going to hit the ball a bit better off the tee than I did but I hit a few more fairways. I putted really well.”

Even though Dredge is expected to avoid the worst of any wind in the second round, he won’t mind if the Peter Harradine design bears its teeth over the weekend.

“I prefer it a little bit more windy. I’m a bit more used to playing the wind, I suppose. I quite like it and I get used to it around here as well. It’s quite a good challenge. The greens are always firm, so it’s always tough to get the ball close to the hole,’ said Dredge who has to go way back to the 2006 Omega European Masters for the last of his two European Tour titles.

“I understood that today, scoring was going to be good. It was the opportunity to go at more flags and get the ball a bit closer to the hole.

“Without the wind, it sort of makes it a lot easier to get the score going and get the putts in and get in with some sort of number.”

Aphibarnrat, Kimsey and McDowell had set the pace in the morning with rounds of 66 and with the wind expected to get up, it was thought they would share the first-round lead.

The winds never came, however, allowing first Korhonen and then Dredge to surge past them, The European Tour reports.

Korhonen made birdies on the 10th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 18th and first and when he added another on the fourth, he was in the lead. He then finished his round with five pars – including an excellent save on the 7th – to allow Dredge to take control.

The two-time European Tour winner turned in 33 with birdies on the 1st, 5th and 8th  and a burst of three in four holes after the turn had him right in contention. An approach to 10 feet on the 15th put him in a share and he then drove the par four 16th for another birdie and a one-shot lead.

McDowell birdied his first three holes and then added further gains on the 14th, 16th and 18th to turn in 30 before coming back in level par.

Kimsey had birdies on the 10th and 14th but came alive on the 16th tee, reeling off four in a row and then putting an approach to three feet on the 7th but he gave the shot back on the next.

Aphibarnrat had gains on the 16th, 18th and first but dropped a shot on the third before finishing with four birdies in six holes, including two to finish his round.

Belgian Thomas Detry, Irishman Paul Dunne, England’s Simon Dyson, Spaniard Nacho Elvira, Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin, German Alexander Knappe, Swede Joakim Lagergren and South Africa’s Jaco van Zyl were five under. 

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