Sport | Golf
Woods off to a flier
Tiger Woods made an imposing start to his bid for his second Dubai Desert Classic title in three years with a seven-under-par 65 for an early two-stroke advantage.
- By Leslie Wilson Jr, Sports Editor
- Published: 13:18 January 31, 2008
- Image Credit: Karl Jeffs/Gulf News
- Tiger Woods shot a seven-under-65 in Thursday's opening round at the Emirates Golf Club.
Dubai: Tiger Woods made an imposing start to his bid for a fifth straight tournament victory and his second Dubai Desert Classic title in three years with a seven-under-par 65 for an early two-stroke advantage at the Emirates Golf Club on Thursday.
The world number one began with a birdie on the par-five 10th, his first of the round, and added six more to send out a warning to anyone prepared to oppose him over the next three days.
Several intrepid players did attempt yesterday, including recent Abu Dhabi winner Martin Kaymer from Germany and India's Jyoti Randhawa, who closed within a stroke of his 65, only to finish the day on five-under 67 together with nine more golfers.
Low scores were the order of the day with 14 golfers bunched together on four-under, while as many as 59 broke par.
Defending Desert Classic champion Henrik Stenson started the day like he had a plane to catch - with birdies on four of his first five holes. But the big-hitting Swede, who has made Dubai his residence since 2004, appeared to run out of steam halfway through the back nine and dropped crucial shots on the 15th and 16th holes.
No blemishes
Woods had no such blemishes as he appeared to continue from where he had left off on Sunday when winning the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines in California last week by an awesome eight shots.
He was still a bit critical of the way he played.
"I had two good days of practice the last couple of days and started to hit the ball a lot better than I did last week," said the American. "I had a couple of good opportunities to make some putts and just kind of ran them over the edge. But overall today was just - couldn't ask for a better start."
Woods finished third behind Stenson and three-time Desert Classic winner Ernie Els 12 months ago and has put emphasis on having a good year where he will be targeting a Grand Slam of all the four majors. The 32-year-old golf icon is playing in what is only his second tournament since taking a 10-week break from the game at the end of last year.
While golfers benefitted from perfect playing conditions at the superbly laid out Majlis Course, the weather forecast for today is not very encouraging.
Strong winds forecast
Met office reports warn that very strong winds are expected to blow through the day from 20 to 30mph with gusts to 40mph at times.
Among those who made the most of yesterday's benign conditions were Randhawa and Jeev Milkha Singh who shot matching 67s to give themselves the best possible chance of a big showing over the weekend.
Spanish Ryder Cup veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez and Sweden's Pelle Edberg also impressed while former champions Els, David Howell and Robert-Jan Derksen were in the hunt after returning 68.
Desert Classic qualifiers Khalid Yousuf from the UAE and England's Matthew Turner shot nine and four over, respectively.
Controversy: Poulter clears the air
An angry Ian Poulter said yesterday he was misquoted in a magazine article which suggested he was the only player capable of challenging the supremacy of world number one Tiger Woods.
The 32-year-old Briton said the article in the March edition of Golf World had left him "in an unfortunate situation with egg on my face".
"I was misquoted," Poulter told reporters after opening his Dubai Desert Classic campaign with a two-under-par 70. "It was taken out of context."
Poulter, ranked 22nd in the world and with seven European Tour wins to his name, said the level of media reaction to the article had weighed heavily on his shoulders.
"I have had it on my mind since last night," he said. "You put the Internet on and it's THE (golf) story.
"The story is also I couldn't get my word (of reply) in before everyone else. I have to try and explain the situation of how it was actually said, as opposed to how it has been written.
-Reuters
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