Bad light ends play with 20 groups still to finish

Rory McIlroy better

than Tiger at his age,

says Mark O'Meara

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Northern Ireland teenager Rory McIlroy, pictured right, underlined his Ryder Cup potential with a timely eight under par 64 to open up a one-stroke first round lead at the Dubai Desert Classic before play was suspended due to bad light.
The talented 19 year old carded nine birdies to lead from Sweden's Robert Karlsson only a day after new Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie named him as a potential candidate for Celtic Manor next year.
McIlroy's only blemish came on his fourth hole of the day when he drove into a bush but he made amends as he holed from 15 feet on the last for a birdie to ensure the outright lead after calmly striking his approach into the heart of the green.
"It was actually nice to be out late because I wanted to do a little work on my putting before I went out. I was able to do that and holed a few nice ones," said McIlroy.
"The conditions were perfect, the greens were soft, the fairways were soft. It was ideal scoring conditions."
American Mark O'Meara, the 1998 Open and Masters winner, who partnered McIlroy, was fulsome in his praise of the young man who is already ranked in the world's top 40.
"“Ballstriking-wise, Rory is probably better than Tiger was at that age,” O'Meara said. “His technique is better. Certainly, Tiger has developed his game and modified his swing over the years to be able to hit the ball pin-high, but Rory is already doing that at 19. He's kind of a step ahead.
“I've witnessed Tiger at that age [Woods turned professional at 20] and have played a lot with Anthony Kim in the past two years, and Rory's got all the tools to become an extremely dominant player in this game. His technique is extremely good.
“He hits it far enough, he is very composed and he has a great short game. I can't see any weaknesses or why he can't win many major championships. It's hard to compare anyone with Tiger because of his mind and heart, but certainly Rory has those qualities, there's no denying [that]. He shot eight under today but it looked pretty easy.”
Last year’s European Order of Merit winner Karlsson, a Ryder Cup team winner in 2006, carded a bogey-free seven-under 65 to sit in the clubhouse a shot clear of early pacesetter Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and South Africa's Charl Schwartzel, who was only able to play 14 holes of his first round and will join 59 others in completing their rounds early Friday morning.
Karlsson was also happy to take advantage of the conditions which be believes will set a winning total of 20 under par come Sunday - a similar level to the recent tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Doha.
"It was a solid game. There wasn't anything spectacular, but I got my chances, I took most of them and I still missed a couple of chances, but all in all very solid," he said.
"It was a great day for scoring with the greens fairly soft and not much wind.
"I think I had a quick look at 27 putts and I hit ten fairways, I missed a couple of greens but when I missed them I got up and down.
"It's easier this year because the greens are soft so the chipping and pitching is quite a bit easier than normal."
Fernandez-Castaño continued the form which saw the Quinn Insurance British Masters winner finish a strong seventh in Qatar last week.
He stormed out of the blocks with five birdies over his opening nine holes but despite carding a further three birdies was only able to pick up a single stroke on his way home.
"I'm quite happy with the result, but I have to say I didn't really hit the ball well as I was doing but I managed to score and that's the main thing around here, you have to score," he said.
"It's not about how you hit the ball, but how many you do at the end of the day. That's what I did and I am very happy with that."
Frenchman Grégory Havret and Sweden's Alexander Noren sit three back after opening with first round 67s, with Abu Dhabi winner Paul Casey bouncing back from missing the cut last week in Qatar with a bogey free 68 to join in form South African Louis Oosthuizen, who has finished second at his last two events, Hartlepool's Graeme Storm and Justin Rose at four under par.
Hennie Otto made it three South Africans inside the top ten as he joined the quartet at four under with four holes to play of his first round.
"I think it was not a bad start, obviously I could have done better. Having said that, I made a couple of good par saves coming in" said Casey.
"Not a bad start, but I am four behind Rory. That's a hell of a round, eight under around here is very impressive."
Click here to listen to Rory McIlroy's thoughts on his first round of 64
But it was not a good day for everybody. Scot Marc Warren, who has spent the last few months wintering in Florida, sagged to a sad 81. He was the only Scot to complete his first round. Perhaps he is wishing he hadn't!
Editor's note: Hailstones at Qatar Masters last week ... thick fog that caused a lengthy hold-up which shortened the number of hours left to play today ... this desert weather is not all it's cracked up to be.
CLUBHOUSE LEADERS
FIRST ROUND
Par 72; 7301yd.
Play was suspended for the day due to bad light with 20 groups still to complete their first rounds. They will go out again at 7.30am Friday local time.
64 Rory McIlroy
65 Robert Karlsson (Swe)
66 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa)
67 Gregory Havret (Fra), Alex Noren (Swe).
68 Paul Casey, Justin Rose, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Graeme Storm
69 Oliver Fisher, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Mark Foster, Scott Strange (Aus).
70 Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer (Ger), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Anthony Wall, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Lee Westwood, Mark Brown (US), Matthew Turner.
71 Peter Hanson (Swe), Steve Webster, Stephen Dodd, Oliver Wilson, Simon Dyson, David Lynn, Erik Compton (US), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe).
72 Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Kenneth Ferrie, Shiv Kapur (Ind), David Frost (SAf), Garth Mulroy (SAf).
73 Peter Lawrie, Pablo Martin (Spa), Miles Tunnicliff, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Thomas Levet (Fra), Damien McGrane, Simon Wakefield, Miles Tunnicliff, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind).
74 Robert Dinwiddie, Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Ariel Canete (Arg), Darren Clarke, Simon Khan, Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Simon Khan.
75 Gary Murphy, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Soren Hansen (Den), Barry Lane.
76 John Bickerton, David Dixon.
77 Mark O'Meara (US), David Horsey, Phillip Archer, Ross McGowan
79 Wayne Westner (SAf).
81 Marc Warren.