Paul McGinley leads Ryder Cup hopefuls from the front

Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley celebrated the anniversary of his appointment with a vintage performance on the opening day of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, carding a four under par 68 to finish one shot off the pace.

England's Matthew Baldwin, France's Romain Wattel and Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello share the lead on five under, a mark McGinley reached for a time, but his only bogey of the day at 16 dropped the veteran Dubliner back into a share of fourth place.

McGinley, who was named Ryder Cup skipper ahead of Darren Clarke in Abu Dhabi 12 months ago, reached the turn on three under and picked up further shots on the 10th and 11th to improve to five under par and claim a share of the lead before his late slip, which could have been worse had he not chipped in to rescue the bogey after finding water with his second shot.

The 47-year-old admitted the first half of last year following his appointment as captain was a “write-off” in terms of his own golf, but he finished the season strongly and has now begun 2014 in similar fashion.

“I prefer to play rather than practice in the winter and the members at Sunningdale, including Tim Henman, have been keeping me sharp with their money games,” said McGinley. “I played well in the second half of last season, made all the cuts and didn’t have any big finishes but I played a lot of good golf and obviously continued today.

“I’m disappointed with the last. There was a scuff mark right in my line and I let it affect my stroke. It was reminiscent on Bernhard Langer at Kiawah Island (who missed a putt to retain the Ryder Cup in 1991). I didn’t hit a good stroke because of the scuff mark, a bit of a mental error.”

Asked afterwards how his playing partners, Ryder Cup hopefuls Thorbjorn Olesen and Tommy Fleetwood, would have felt playing alongside the skipper, McGinley said: "Hopefully they were relaxed. They are both very mature young guys. And to be honest, if anyone is nervous around me then they probably shouldn't be in the team anyway!"

Rory McIlroy’s superb driving kept him out of trouble as he carded a flawless 70 to lie three shots off the lead. McIlroy, who struggled badly with his driving for most of last year, appeared much more in control off the tee in his first tournament of 2014 and he could perhaps have applied more pressure to the joint leaders.

“I played well and was very happy with how I hit the ball from tee to green,” said McIlroy, who missed the cut here last year in his first event with his new clubs, but ended a difficult 2013 with victory in the Australian Open in December.

“I hit it long and straight and just did not take advantage of some of the opportunities, especially on the last two holes. It definitely could have been a bit better but it’s a solid start and I was pleased.”

On a encouraging morning for much of the 11-strong Irish contingent, Michael Hoey finished the day on three under, one ahead of Damien McGrane and McIlroy. Padraig Harrington and Simon Thornton were a shot further back but Shane Lowry will have work to do to make the cut after his round of 76.

Sergio Garcia, meanwhile, predicted more players would suffer injuries after labelling the rough "dangerous". Garcia suffered a shoulder injury in the pre-tournament pro-am and exacerbated the problem hitting from the thick rough, the Spaniard needing treatment from a European Tour physio for three holes.

The 34-year-old will receive further treatment before deciding whether to continue in the event after struggling to an opening 76 that left him nine shots off the lead. “The problem is they have cut it from green to tee and the ball nestles down,” Garcia said of the rough. “Every single ball nestles down and you can’t hit it 100 yards.

“I have tweaked a muscle and hitting from the rough is not helping. We will see how it feels tomorrow. Hopefully I am the only one (who gets hurt), but unfortunately the way the course is set up it could happen to more people.”

Asked if he felt the rough was dangerous, Garcia added: “I would say so.”

Responding to Garcia's criticism, tournament director Miguel Vidaor said that cutting the rough from green to tee was standard practice and that the rough had actually been cut more often than in previous years.

A statement from Vidaor read: “We have three gradients of rough, semi at 30mm, intermediate at 62mm and the remainder at 72mm. In past years we have cut the remainder to 72mm the Sunday before the tournament week and on the Monday of the tournament week itself, but have then left it to grow.

“However, this year due to the success of the overseeding process — which was enhanced firstly by the warm and wet weather immediately after that process was undertaken and by the warm and wet weather last week — we took the decision to cut the rough back again to 72mm on Wednesday as well, such was the growth.

“Therefore we have actually cut the rough back more this year than in previous years.”