DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Rory McIlroy shot a 7-under 65 to lead the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic by four shots from No. 1-ranked Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer and by six ahead of an inconsistent Tiger Woods on Thursday.
McIlroy, whose only European Tour win was in Dubai two years ago, had eight birdies to go with one bogey at Emirates Golf Club.
Woods struggled early by twice going to 2 over after missing makable putts. But he finished on 1-under 71 when he eagled the 18th hole by hitting a three-wood about 250 yards to eight feet from the hole. Amid loud cheers from the gallery one spectator mumbled “now, that’s Tiger.”
“It was one of those days where I fought hard,” Woods said. “Unfortunately, I got to 2 over par on two different occasions. I was 2 over early, I got it back, birdieing 10, 11, threw it right away again with a double on 12, and got it back to under for the day. All in all, I think a positive result.”
Much of the buzz coming into the opening round centred on the grouping of the world’s top three golfers. But only the top-ranked Westwood threatened to climb the leaderboard by reaching 4 under before dropping a shot on the final hole to fall into a tie with Kaymer at 3-under 69.
Westwood played the best of the trio, making several crucial putts on his way to bagging four birdies. But he faltered toward the end, three-putting on 17 to miss out on another birdie, and carding his lone bogey on the 18th when his approach shot fell short of the green and nearly rolled into the water.
“I played well. I played solidly. I didn’t make too many mistakes,” Westwood said. “It was disappointing to shoot 1 over for the last two holes. One-under would have been nice. All in all, 69 was a pretty good score.”
Kaymer also had problems on the greens and ran into some bad luck on the ninth hole when his approach shot ended up in the water, forcing him to take a double bogey.
He, however, had his moments as he made six birdies including on the 17th where his drive cut the corner on the 359-yard hole and made the green, where he narrowly missed an eagle putt.
“Yeah, it was OK,” Kaymer said. “I hit a lot of good shots, and was a little bit unfortunate on the ninth when I hit the grandstands and it went all the way back in the water.”
The seventh-ranked McIlroy, who was runner-up in last month’s Abu Dhabi Championship, took the early lead and held it. He’s two shots ahead of Sergio Garcia and Thomas Aiken of South Africa on 67. Another shot back were five players, including Englishmen Danny Willett and Steve Webster along with Jean-Baptiste Gonnet of France.
“Today was good,” said McIlroy. “I really had a lot of iron shots and got away with a couple of drives that I was quite fortunate to make birdies from. I had a putt for a 64 on the last that didn’t quite go in but I’ll take 65 in these conditions any day.”
The Northern Irishman came into the tournament saying he should be winning more tournaments. Along with his win in Dubai, he won the Quail Hollow Championship in 2009. He said he was benefiting from the work he has done on his swing in the off-season and this week from the fact that much of the attention being on the top three.
“With the big three being paired together, I tried to go in a little under the radar and a bit more quietly,” McIlroy said.
“It was nice to get a good round in there early.”
Much like McIlroy, Garcia has been overhauling his game and trying to get back the form that saw him ranked as high as No. 2 nearly two years ago. Since then, the Spaniard has been in the news more for missing cuts than winning tournaments — though his game has improved this year with a top-10 finish in Qatar last weekend. He is ranked 79th.
“You know, it’s slowly getting there,” Garcia said. “Still needs to improve, and there will be some not nice rounds coming. This is just the beginning.”
Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez was in the mix until the final four holes, when he had two double-bogeys in a par 72.
There was more at stake this weekend than just the tournament title.
Westwood could lose the top ranking if Kaymer wins and he finishes lower than second, and if Kaymer finishes second and Westwood is out of the top 10. If Kaymer is tied for second, he could still become No. 1 for the first time if Westwood finishes out of the top 36.
Woods could move ahead of Kaymer if he wins and Kaymer finishes outside the top five but his recent form indicates he won’t be moving up the rankings soon.
Coming off a tie for 44th in San Diego, Woods’ problems were on display for much of Thursday afternoon along with flashes of brilliance.
Much of it could be seen in his body language; he swore after one approach shot drifted left and slammed a club into the ground on another wayward shot that led to his double bogey on 12. He let out a sigh when a birdie putt just came up short on 13 and then on 17 he badly missed an 80-yard chip that ended up in the back of the green leaving him with a 45-foot birdie putt.
Afterward, Woods was his harshest critic.
“That was awful. Awful,” he said of his 17th-hole chip. “It’s something that I’m still working on technique, and unfortunately sometimes I think about technique instead of feel that I was supposed to do, and that one was a perfect example.”
He also said on the front nine he had “three easy looks and had three bad putts” and complained that his “trajectory was not what I wanted on a lot of shots.”
“I struggled today with ball flight,” he said. “My trajectory wasn’t what I wanted on a lot of shots and consequently I could never get a ball pin high especially when the wind is blowing this hard.”