Dubai: Lee Westwood rekindled memories of 2009 after hitting six under par 66 to lead by a stroke after the first round of the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth Course on Thursday.
The 43-year-old Englishman clinched the first DP World Tour Championship and Race to Dubai double at this venue seven years ago, and he still holds the joint record for the largest winning margin of six strokes at this event.
Three birdies on the front nine followed by four birdies and a bogey on the return, fire him back into contention in an event he’s not only won before, but where he’s also recorded three top five finishes in seven appearances.
“This is as good as I’ve played for quite some time,” said the World No. 47 who is currently 12th in the Race to Dubai after recording three top five finishes in 22 events this season.
“It’s a course I’ve played well on in the past and I’ve had quite a few good results here other than the win,” he added of finishing third at this event in 2010 and fifth in 2013.
“Any time you play a golf course that you’ve got good memories on and you’ve played well on in the past, you remember certain shots you’ve hit.”
Remembering 2009, he said: “It’s certainly in the top two or three performances in my career, maybe even the best performance of my career, knowing that I needed to win to beat Rory [McIlroy] in the Race to Dubai, and to do that by six strokes and to pretty much dominate the field — it’s right up there.”
So can he use his memories from seven years ago to pull off another win? “I don’t really have any expectations,” he said. “Just trying to keep playing the way I’m playing, keep rolling the ball on the greens and making a lot of birdies.
“I made seven birdies today and had a lot of other chances, so this place holds good memories for me, like I said, and it’s nice to get a lie in on the second day,” – leaders tee off later the next day — “And hopefully I’ll have a chance come the weekend.”
France’s Julien Quesne and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts are tied for second, a stroke behind after carding five under 67s. Meanwhile, Spain’s Sergio Garcia, Holland’s Joost Luiten and Italy’s Francesco Molinari share a three-way tie for fourth after hitting four under par 68s.
Scores from the European Tour World Tour Championship at the par-72 course on Thursday in Dubai/s-6 Lee Westwood (Britain) 66/s-5 Julien Quesne (France) 67
Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 67/s-4 Francesco Molinari (Italy) 68
Sergio Garcia (Spain) 68
Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 68/s-3 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 69
Matthew Fitzpatrick (Britain) 69
Alexander Levy (France) 69
Jaco Van Zyl (South Africa) 69
Marcus Fraser (Australia) 69
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand) 69/s-2 Renato Paratore (Italy) 70
Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 70
Tommy Fleetwood (Britain) 70
Ignacio Elvira (Spain) 70
Shane Lowry (Ireland) 70
Victor Dubuisson (France) 70
Richard Sterne (South Africa) 70
An Byeong Hun (Korea) 70
Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 70
Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) 70
Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 70/s-1 Martin Kaymer (Germany) 71
Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 71
Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 71
Tyrrell Hatton (Britain) 71
Alexander Noren (Sweden) 71
Danny Willett (Britain) 71
Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) 71
Lee Soomin (Korea) 71
Richard Bland (Britain) 71/s0 Scott Hend (Australia) 72
David Horsey (Britain) 72
Bradley Dredge (Britain) 72
David Lipsky (US) 72
Jorge Campillo (Spain) 72
Gregory Bourdy (France) 72
Rikard Karlberg (Sweden) 72
Matthew Southgate (Britain) 72
Raphael Jacquelin (France) 72
Ricardo Gouveia (Portugal) 72
Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 72
George Coetzee (South Africa) 72
Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 72
Ross Fisher (Britain) 72
Branden Grace (South Africa) 72
Thomas Pieters (Belgium) 72/s1 Alejandro Canizares (Spain) 73/s2 Felipe Aguilar (Chile) 74
Brandon Stone (South Africa) 74
Joakim Lagergren (Sweden) 74
Li Haotong (China) 74
Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 74/s3 Wang Jeunghun (Korea) 75
Chris Wood (Britain) 75
Rory McIlroy (Britain) 75/s4 Andy Sullivan (Britain) 76/s6 Andrew Johnston (Britain) 78/s10 Romain Wattel (France) 82
