Abu Dhabi: After a day when many of golf’s big-wigs struggled to cope with the National Course rough, unheralded trio Matthew Baldwin, Romain Wattel and Rafael Cabrera-Bello were tied atop the leaderboard with scores of five-under after the opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship here on Thursday.
Chasing the leaders on four-under were Europe’s 2014 Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley, Chris Lee, George Coetzee, Jose-Filipe Lima, Dawie van de Walt, Marc Warren and Joot Luiten.
When Spaniard Cabrera-Bello — the 2012 Dubai Desert Classic champion — finished with a birdie to score a round of 67, Baldwin was on six-under and had two holes left to play. But the latter bogeyed the last to settle for a tie at the top overnight.
“I putted nicely and the majority of the time I kept it in the fairway and hit a lot of greens. So with a good combination like that, you’re going to shoot low,” said Baldwin, whose best finish on a European Tour event was runner-up at the recent Nelson Mandela Championship.
“I played well towards the end of last season. It’s given me the confidence to go on and hopefully keep challenging. Maybe a win is around the corner, you never know.”
Cabrera-Bello was delighted with the start he made after being out of action for more than five weeks.
“I started good and held my nerve. More than that, I played the game I know I can play. It was tough out there. The rough is very thick and you need to play very good off the tee and the greens are rolling really good, so you can make putts,” he said.
Wattel was also thrilled to come good in tough conditions with a bogey-free round.
“That’s a really tough course and I just tried to play solid. It was a good test all the time. I tried to save all the bad holes I had and I’m so pleased. I’m going to do the same for the next few days.”
Irishman McGinley’s mind may be cluttered with Ryder Cup selection issues, but he was spot-on with his game yesterday. He was amongst the afternoon starters and was three-under par after the front nine. With birdies on the 10th and 11th holes, he had a chance to take an outright lead on 13, but he missed a birdie putt and a bogey on the 16th saw him finish on four-under.
European Tour No.1 Henrik Stenson looks to be finding it tough building on his dream run last year. The Swedish ace started with five pars and a birdie but then lost his way and finished two-over.
Crowd favourite Sergio Garcia, who suffered a shoulder injury in the pre-tournament pro-am, aggravated the problem hitting from the thick rough. The Spaniard needed treatment from a European Tour physio for three holes and struggled to an opening 76, nine shots off the leaders.
