Thirteen-year-old Russian-born amateur Daniil Sokolov has upstaged some of the best on the DP World Tour in posting a three-over-par 75 on the opening day of a bright but very breezy CB Qatar Masters in Doha.
Sokolov, who represents Qatar and was in the field courtesy of receiving one of four annual invitations for amateur, was two under after four holes but picked up four bogeys and a double to drop into a tie for 105th play when play was suspended due to poor light at Doha Golf Club with 12 players yet to finish their round.
Sokolov also played the Qatar Masters last year at the age of 12, shooting rounds of 78 and 82 to miss the cut.
The teenager played alongside two former Qatar Masters champions in 2009 winner Alvaro Quiros, who signed for an impressive three-under 69 and also South African Justin Harding, winner of the tournament in 2019. who struggled with a 75.
RUSSIAN-BORN 1⃣3⃣-YEAR OLD LIGHTS-UP BREEZY #CBQMasters …..
Daniil Sokolov @modestgolf shoots gutsy 7⃣5⃣ playing alongside @DohaGolfClub former Alvaro Quiros (2009) & Justin Harding (2019)
Read: https://t.co/kH7dsRYRfP
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✅ @TOURMISS @Record_Sport pic.twitter.com/3viaf6rXNw
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) February 6, 2025
Some of the players Sololov is currently ahead include Tour winners Brandon Stone, Jorge Campillo and a former Qatar Masters winner, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Nicolas Colsaerts.
In 2013, Chinese player Ye Wo-cheng became the youngest male to compete in a European tour event, at age 12, at the China Open.
Sokolov, who is represented by the Modest Golf management group run by One Direction singer and golf enthusiast Niall Horan, was born in South Korea and moved to Qatar with his parents from Tokyo when he was aged 5, the European tour has confirmed. He has won one World Amateur Golf Ranking tournament, the Jordan Junior Open in May 2024.
Two other amateurs in the field included super-talented Moroccan Adam Bresnau, who played all four rounds in last month’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic, and Scotland’s 18-year-old Dominic McGlinchey whose father is the Director of
Golf at the Doha Club and again caddied for his son as he did last year when Dominic contested the event.
The double-barrell surname duo of Swede Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Brit Brandon Robinson Thompson were tied for the lead following rounds of six-under par 66s.
