Golf:World number one Lee Westwood crashed out of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters as a player ranked 477 places below him became the shock leader. Austrian Markus Brier, who had to return to the European Tour qualifying school last November, added a 66 to his 71 to reach halfway on seven-under-par in much less windy conditions than for the opening round.

The 42-year-old is one ahead of South African Darren Fichardt, winner of the title in 2003, but himself only 399th in the rankings after losing his tour card four seasons ago.

Damien McGrane and Peter Lawrie were the only Irish to miss the cut but the remaining trio - Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Michael Hoey - just scraped into the weekend on three over.

Westwood just failed with a 30-foot eagle attempt on the final hole and, with a 75, missed the cut by one on four over, while last week's winner in Bahrain Paul Casey had the same score and bowed out by two.

Westwood's exit from the event in which he finished third last year followed a 64th-place finish in Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago and it means he could be replaced as number one by Martin Kaymer this weekend.

For that to happen, though, the German needs a top-two finish in Doha and even after improving seven strokes on his opening 77, he made it into the closing 36 holes with nothing to spare and is still 10 adrift of Brier.

Without a single top-20 finish on the circuit all last year, Brier came through the qualifying school by the skin of his teeth, but still needed a sponsor's invitation for a place in this week's field.

"I'm very grateful and I hope I can make the most of it," he said. "Last year I didn't play well at all, but the game is still there."

His round was bogey-free, while Fichardt mixed eight birdies with four dropped shots for a 68.

Defending champion Robert Karlsson (69) shares third place with Dane Thomas Bjorn, who shot a best-of-the-day 65, and England's Richard Finch, whose 69 included an eagle two at the driveable 307-yard 16th.

First-round leader Retief Goosen was still setting the pace with two to play, but while Brier was closing with a 35-foot birdie putt he duffed a chip on the short 17th and double-bogeyed.

That dropped the 2007 winner - his last European Tour success - into a tie for sixth with fellow South African Thomas Aiken and Scot Paul Lawrie, champion in 1999 and round in a fine 66.

At least Westwood and Casey did not react to missing the cut like their former Ryder Cup team-mate Henrik Stenson. The Swede turned in 31, but came home in 42 and en route to a quadruple-bogey nine on his final hole flung a wedge over his shoulder and into the lake behind.

World number seven Steve Stricker, making his first trip to the Middle East, survived the cut on the limit of three over like Kaymer thanks to birdies at the 15th and 16th.

Fellow American John Daly knocked nine strokes off his opening 77 to climb to one over.

Collated second-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):

137Markus Brier (Aut) 71 66

138Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 70 68

139Robert Karlsson (Swe) 70 69, Richard Finch 70 69, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 65

140Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 69, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 71, Paul Lawrie 74 66

141Robert Rock 73 68

142David Drysdale 71 71, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 73 69, Steven O'Hara 73 69, David Lynn 73 69, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 74 68

143Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 77 66, Oliver Wilson 74 69, Ian Poulter 72 71, Bradley Dredge 72 71, Oliver Fisher 71 72, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 74 69, Seve Benson 71 72

144Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 73 71, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 71, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 74 70, David Howell 75 69, Mark Brown (Nzl) 75 69, Simon Dyson 72 72, Kenneth Ferrie 75 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 75 69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 74, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 73 71, Mark Foster 73 71

145Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 77 68, Richie Ramsay 75 70, Peter Whiteford 75 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 74 71, David Horsey 74 71, Graeme Storm 75 70, John Daly (USA) 77 68, Anthony Wall 75 70, Gary Boyd 73 72, Romain Wattel (Fra) 77 68, Stephen Gallacher 72 73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 73 72, Tano Goya (Arg) 73 72, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 77 68

146Martin Wiegele (Aut) 76 70, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 74 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 77 69, John Parry 76 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 72 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 73, Andrew Coltart 74 72, Oscar Floren (Swe) 79 67, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 75 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 73

147Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 75 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 77 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 80 67, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 75 72, Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 75, Stephen Dodd 77 70, Michael Hoey 74 73, Steve Stricker (USA) 76 71, Steve Webster 75 72, Paul Waring 79 68, Marcel Siem (Ger) 75 72, Darren Clarke 78 69, Paul Broadhurst 78 69, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 73 74, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 77 70, Keith Horne (Rsa) 78 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 77 70, Jamie Donaldson 74 73, Paul McGinley 77 70, Barry Lane 74 73

Missed the cut:

148Gary Orr 73 75, Anders Hansen (Den) 76 72, Ross Fisher 80 68, Todd Hamilton (USA) 75 73, Danny Willett 78 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 78 70, Anthony Kang (USA) 78 70, Danny Lee (Nzl) 76 72, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 74 74, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 75 73, Pablo Martin (Spa) 76 72, Lee Westwood 73 75, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 74 74, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 76 72, Nick Dougherty 77 71, Phillip Price 75 73, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 80 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 76 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 76 72

149 Damien McGrane 74 75, Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 74 75, Chris Wood 76 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 78 71, Peter Lawrie 72 77, John Bickerton 76 73, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 75 74, Alexander Noren (Swe) 76 73, Paul Casey 74 75, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 77 72

150Richard Bland 79 71, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 76 74, Liam Bond 78 72, Floris De Vries (Ned) 78 72, Robert Coles 79 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 79 71, Richard McEvoy 79 71, David Dixon 76 74, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 78 72, Matt Haines 78 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 77 73

151Joost Luiten (Ned) 79 72, Scott Strange (Aus) 79 72, James Morrison 78 73, Thomas Levet (Fra) 80 71, Simon Wakefield 77 74, Ross McGowan 78 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 81 70

153Michael Campbell (Nzl) 79 74, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 80 73, Simon Khan 81 72

155Rhys Davies 80 75

156Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 78 78, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 78 78

157Rolf Muntz (Ned) 81 76, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 83 74