GOLF EUROPEAN TOUR NEWS:RORY McILROY wasn't long dusting himself down from an extended winter break for his first competitive round of 2010 with an impressive six-under par 66 as he moved directly to the business end of proceedings on the opening day of the €1.5million Abu Dhabi Championship.
Like most players who dine at the top table, McIlroy was afforded an extended break over the festive period while others lower down the pecking order have already been scrambling for euro under the South African sunshine in recent weeks.
Although the world number 10 spent considerable down time at his new home outside Belfast there was precious little golf to be played due to the “big freeze”.
Abu Dhabi marks the first tournament of a three-leg gulf-swing on the European Tour and culminates in the Dubai Desert Classic where McIlroy defends in two week’s time.
And if yesterday’s 66 is anything to go by, the 20-year-old clearly has designs on quickly adding to his one and only tour win to date. This season will be split between the USPGA Tour and Europe while breaking into the world’s top five is also on the agenda.
Yesterday was a day of low scoring where over half of the 126-man field matched par or better. McIlroy carded no less than eight birdies with a double-bogey at the 11th his only blemish.
He put that mistake down to a “mental error” after choosing the wrong club off the tee.
“I’m very happy. Apart from that one loose tee shot it was really good,” said McIlroy. “I made a lot of birdies and converted a lot of my chances. So anytime you open up a tournament with a 66 you’ve got to be happy.”
At six-under he was joined by Spain’s Sergio Garcia, early pacesetter Stephen Dodd and Rhys Davies from Wales, who McIlroy played Walker Cup with in 2007.
The chasing pack was one shot adrift of the leading trio on seven-under with the English pair of Ian Poulter and Richard Bland plus South African Keith Horne all carding impressive 65s.
Poulter saved the best until last as he signed off by holing a monster 70-foot birdie putt on the final green for his share of the lead.
Afterwards he admitted he was hungry to compete after a six-week Christmas break but was surprised how quickly it all fell into place.
“I wasn’t expecting to come out quite as fast, but I’ll take it – I hit it lovely,” said the world number 12. “I started practising on Tuesday and I didn’t feel 70 per cent let alone the way it was today (Thursday).
“One of my goals at the start of the year was to hole more 20-foot putts. They dried up on the back nine a little but there was a little bonus on the last.”
Lee Westwood is the highest ranked player in a strong field and the world number four – one of five players in the world’s top 10 competing – opened with a respectable three-under 69.
After McIlroy, Shane Lowry was next best of the eight Irish players in the field and the Irish Open champion gave a good account of himself with an opening four-under 68 to be inside the top 20. The Clara professional traded five birdies with just the one dropped shot at the 14th.
Darren Clarke, fresh from his joint runner-up finish in last week’s Joburg Open, and Graeme McDowell both shot two-under 70s, one better than Peter Lawrie (71) and two better than Michael Hoey (72). Gareth Maybin and Damien McGrane were way off the pace and near last as they shot 75 and 79 respectively.
The adage “beware the injured golfer” is well-trodden but may well ring true this week with Garcia and Germany’s Martin Kaymer (67) both well-placed. Kaymer, winner in 2008 and runner-up last year, is set to play the entire season with plates and screws in his foot after a go-karting accident derailed last year’s Race to Dubai campaign.
Garcia is still struggling with the hand injury he picked up at the end of last year, but bounced back from his early setbacks by picking up seven shots in 10 holes around the turn. “It didn’t look great for the first four holes, but I played fairly well and it is definitely a good comeback,” said the Spaniard. “There is still a couple of shots I need to fix, there’s obviously a little bit of rust still in my body, but overall, I think it was a good comeback and a good solid round to start the week with”.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Abu Dhabi Championship
(Irish and Brit unless stated, par 72):
First round
65 – Richard Bland, Keith Horne (Rsa), Ian Poulter.
66 – Sergio Garcia (Spa), Rhys Davies, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Peter Hanson (Swe), Rory McIlroy, Alexander Noren (Swe), Stephen Dodd, Paul Lawrie.
67 – Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)
68 – Francesco Molinari (Ita), Steve Webster, Shiv Kapur (Ind), Paul Waring, Shane Lowry, Todd Hamilton (USA), Mark Foster, Bradley Dredge
69 – Gary Orr, Anders Hansen (Den), David Howell, Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Marc Warren, Richard Finch, Rick Kulacz (Aus), Lee Westwood, Ross McGowan, Edoardo Molinari (Ita)
70 – Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Metteo Manassero (Ita), Johan Edfors (Swe), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Hennie Otto (Rsa), Chris Wood, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke, Anthony Kim (USA), Stephen Gallacher, Richard Green (Aus), Jamie Donaldson, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Ariel Canete (Arg), Barry Lane, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind).
71 – Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Peter Lawrie, Graeme Storm, Anthony Wall, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Nick Dougherty, Mark Brown (Nzl), David Lynn, Seve Benson, Paul Broadhurst, Brett Rumford (Aus), David Drysdale, David Dixon, Tano Goya (Arg), Camilo Villegas (Col)
72 – Soren Hansen (Den), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Simon Dyson, Danny Lee (Nzl), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Sam Little, Michael Hoey, Phillip Price, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Paul Casey, James Kamte (Rsa)
73 – Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Richard Sheridan, Kenneth Ferrie, Oliver Fisher, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Robert Rock, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Markus Brier (Aut), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Colin Montgomerie, David Horsey, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Gary Lockerbie, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Thomas Levet (Fra).
74 – Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) . 75 – Christian Nilsson (Swe), Richie Ramsay, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Gareth Maybin, Oliver Wilson, Marcel Siem (Ger), John Bickerton, Alastair Forsyth, Gregory Havret (Fra), Othman Al Mulla (Ksa). 76 – Anthony Kang (USA). 77 – Ahmed Al Musharrekh (UAE), Danny Willett. 78 – Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa). 79 – Damien McGrane. 83 – Michael Campbell (Nzl).
USPGA TOUR Bob Hope Classic
(USA unless stated, par 72): (x) denotes amateurs. First Round (leading scores) (Palmer Course. 65 –Joe Ogilvie, J.P. Hayes. 66 – Martin Flores, Heath Slocum. 67 – Chad Collins, Mike Weir (Can), Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Webb Simpson. 68 – Henrik Bjornstad (Nor), Jeff Overton, Tom Gillis, Briny Baird, Derek Lamely. 69 – Kevin Na, Paul Goydos, Marc Turnesa, D.J. Trahan, Steve Elkington (Aus). Nicklaus Course: 62 – Shane Bertsch. 64 – Jeff Quinney, Alex Prugh. 65 – Garrett Willis. 66 – Vaughn Taylor. 67 – Scott McCarron. 68 – Bill Lunde, Brenden Pappas (Rsa), Charles Howell III. 69 – Chris Wilson, Kris Blanks, Richard S Johnson (Swe), Kevin Sutherland, Jerod Turner, Matthew Jones (Aus).
