World No. 3 Rory McIlroy and 2008 European No. 1 Robert Karlsson led the way on 67 after the Abu Dhabi Championship opening round on Thursday, while Tiger Woods carded a 70 in his first outing of the year.
One stroke off the pace on four-under 68 were Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Gonnet and British pair Gareth Maybin and Richard Finch, who holed his second shot for an eagle-two at the sixth.
World No. 1 Luke Donald, playing alongside McIlroy and 14-time major winner Woods in the day’s marquee three-ball, launched his season with a 71, but three-time Abu Dhabi champion Martin Kaymer of Germany slumped to a shock 77.
Photo: AFP
In glorious sunshine and calm early conditions at the European Tour event, McIlroy made a rip-roaring start with three birdies in his first four holes.
The 22-year-old Northern Irishman, who began his round at the 10th, stumbled with bogeys at the 14th and 17th, but four birdies in the final 10 holes provided a satisfying finish.
US Open champion McIlroy struck a superb tee shot at the short seventh to three feet, prompting Woods to yell “great swing,” and the galleries let out a roar when he then chipped in from the fringe of the green at the long eighth.
“A 67 is a good way to start 2012, but I didn’t feel like I drove the ball particularly well,” McIlroy told Sky Sports. “I didn’t hit it in the fairway enough.”
“That’s something I’m going to have to work on this afternoon on the practice range. I’m going to need to hit the ball in the fairway a lot more tomorrow and over the next three days,” he added.
Swede Karlsson, another early starter, sprayed the ball around the Abu Dhabi Golf Club as he missed a series of fairways and greens, but made up for it with an exquisite short game that helped him craft seven birdies.
“I’m very proud of myself because I scored really well, but I think I’m going to have to do quite a bit of work on the range now,” the 42-year-old said. “I don’t think I’ve seen any greens putt better than these, they are fantastic. They are so true and the only time they jump is through our shoe markings.”
Karlsson and McIlroy had the best of the conditions and freshening winds in the afternoon made it trickier for the players. World No. 2 Lee Westwood was among the late starters and he could only manage a 72.
Woods struck the ball better from tee to green than playing partner McIlroy, reeling off 16 pars and two birdies. The only thing missing for the 36-year-old American was a bit of luck with the putter.
“I controlled my ball all day and just had a hard time getting a feel for these greens,” former world No 1 Woods said. “I didn’t quite read them and my speeds went off because I just didn’t have it right.”
Spanish pair Sergio Garcia (71) and Jose Manuel Lara (70) recorded holes-in-one at the 186-yard 12th, while Matteo Manassero (73) went close to another ace at the short fourth.
The Italian teenager looked on with disbelief when his tee shot almost defied the laws of gravity by remaining perched on the lip.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier