Abu Dhabi: The king of Abu Dhabi Golf Club Martin Kaymer once again stamped his authority on the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, setting the early pace at the top of the leaderboard after an eight under par round of 64 on Thursday.
But the German, who has won the title three times previously and was also a runner-up in 2009, expressed his displeasure with the significant changes made to the National Course this year.
“The course has changed quite a lot, unfortunately. I really, really liked it the way it was,” Kaymer said, but he did not let it affect his game.
The German managed four birdies and a bogey on the front nine and then came up with a sensational performance on the back nine to leapfrog into top spot. He shot six birdies and one bogey on the way home to finish the day one shot ahead of early leader Thomas Pieters of Belgium.
A beaming Kaymer attributed his success to the work he put in during the run-up to the event.
“You always come fresh to Abu Dhabi after a long break. I usually practice really well before, but I think the key the last few years was my putting. I putted really well and today I did the same. I made 10 birdies that were over 15 feet, 18 feet and that’s very rare,” said Kaymer, who had spent a week training in Dubai ahead of this tournament.
Kaymer went on to reveal that the last four to five holes were a bit more difficult with the wind picking up.
“There was more wind and it made things tough. But I told myself, you’ve got to hit fairways, especially with that rough. And if you putt well, it’s tough to shoot a bad score. So fortunately it worked out for me.”
Six others are one shot behind Pieters — South African Branden Grace, Frenchmen Gregory Bourdy and Alexander Levy, England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Finland’s Mikko Ilonen.
The Belgian said: “I have been driving a lot better. I think that’s the key out here. You have to drive it around the fairway and I drove it long today, so gave myself a lot of wedges in and converted some putts. It was nice.”
With world No. 1 Rory McIlroy and his arch-rival and friend Rickie Fowler giving pursuit tied at 5-under, an exciting clash is in the offing in round two.
The day also was highlighted with two players — Tom Lewis and Miguel Angel Jimenez — hitting hole-in-ones. Lewis struck a 193-yard seven iron at the seventh for the 10th ace in the tournament’s history and third at that hole. The 24-year-old was rewarded with a Cadillac Escalade car.
“It’s not every day you have a car given to you. Last year, I had my first hole-in-one at Royal Aberdeen and I won champagne. So this time it’s quite nice to win a car,” said an overjoyed Lewis, who is 3-under-par with a first round score of 69.
Jimenez’s slam dunk came on the 177-yard 15th. He had been struggling at three over after a double-bogey on the 10th, but then came up with three straight birdies before the memorable shot on the 15th.
“It’s very nice when you make a hole-in-one but there is no prize,” said Jimenez, laughing. “It’s fine and I’m happy to finish level par today.”
