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Van Zyl waiting on a big Friday in Qatar

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DOHA, QATAR - JANUARY 26: Jaco Van Zyl of South Africa walks on the ninth hole during the first round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters at the Doha Golf Club on January 26, 2017 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Jaco van Zyl opened his account at the Qatar Masters with a round of 67 to share sixth place at the end of Thursday’s play.

He’ll be looking for much of the same good form at Doha Golf Club on Friday, when he continues to bid for a breakthrough win on the European Tour.

In 2015 he came second at the Turkish Airlines Open after Frenchman Victor Dubuisson produced magic over the closing nine holes.

Van Zyl, in a 2016 interview with Compleat Golfer, said he did not expect to go higher than his career best of 67th in the world ranking. He was focused on the Olympics and winning a few more events before hanging up his clubs.

The 37 year old has won 14 times on the Sunshine Tour and has top 25s from his last three European Tour starts, including a tie for 23rd at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship last week.

This week he’s got all of the correct ingredients to finally win on the European Tour, and the 20th staging of the Qatar Masters has a nice ring to it.

The halfway mark he’ll be aiming for was set by Mikko Korhonen, Bradley Dredge, and Jorge Campillo early on Friday morning when all three players completed 36 holes at eight under par.