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ROSE AND DONALDSON OUTSHINE WOODS AND MCILROY

 Justin Rose playing in Abu Dhabi today with a spectactular backdrop.  Picture by courtesy of Getty Images(c)

 REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Justin Rose and Jamie Donaldson shot matching five under par rounds of 67 to share the lead on an eventful opening day at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

The duo outshone Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, with the World Number One posting a round of 75 and Woods starting his season with a 72.

Rose and Donaldson both holed bunker shots en route to establishing a one shot lead over Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen and Spain’s Pablo Larrazábal.

World Number Five Rose, making his debut in the event, opened with a bogey, but after holing out from the sand on the ninth hole he moved to four under par, and another unerringly accurate bunker shot on the next brought him level with Donaldson.0

After that it was pars all the way for a highly satisfying opening to his 2013 campaign.

“I holed a very long putt on the fifth green,” said Rose. “It must have been 50, 60 feet, so clearly a bonus there. And the bunker shot on nine was not your standard bunker shot either, it was a very, very tough shot, probably one that you only up and down 50 per cent of the time. So to make it was an extra bonus for sure.

“I think if I’m completely honest, I didn’t have it completely under control today with the long game. It didn’t feel perfect. I think it was the nature of the day, very difficult to hit every shot perfectly out there. I think it was the kind of day that you have to accept there were going to be some mistakes.  I don’t think you’re going to get many clean rounds of golf out there.

“I think that’s the most important thing to realise; it’s the nature of the golf course this week.  It’s set up very, very difficult – the fairways are narrow. Clearly with a lot of crosswinds, the fairways are hard to hit and the rough is punishing.

“I just tried to keep up and downing it, but accept that there are going to be some mistakes this week.”

Donaldson, who will make his Masters Tournament debut in April, made six birdies and a solitary bogey at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

“I played pretty well for most of the round, but there were times when it wasn’t quite on and I made some good up and downs,” said the 37 year old. “It was a matter of scoring well and keeping the momentum going.”
SCOTSWATCH - A total of 11 Scots in the field and topping the Tartan parade after Day 1 was Craig Lee with a par-match 72 - one ahead of Richie Ramsay and Peter Whiteford,
Paul Lawrie had a 74 - his worst round for a while but it was still a shot better than Rory McIlroy. Paul wrote on his website:
"Pretty much the same as last week. Hit it good but holed absolutely nothing and it took us 4hr 50min to play the round, which is a disgrace.
Scott Jamieson, runner-up last weekend, will have to go a bit to get into contention this time round. He is on the 75 mark, one ahead of Stephen Gallacher and Colin Montgomery.
  

FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 72 Yardage 7,600
67 J Donaldson (Wal), J Rose (Eng).
68 P Larrazábal (Esp), T Olesen (Den). 
69 D Howell (Eng) , L Wen-Chong (Chn) , M Campbell (Nzl) , G Coetzee (RSA) , H Stenson (Swe) 

70 D Willett  (Eng) , J Singh (Ind) , J Luiten (Ned) , T Jaidee (Tha) , S Kjeldsen (Den) , G Fernandez-Castaño  (Esp) 

71 A Sullivan (Eng) , J Edfors (Swe) , C Paisley  (Eng) , M Kaymer (Ger) , L Slattery (Eng) , S Wakefield (Eng) , R Green (Aus) , R Santos  (Por) , J Sjöholm (Swe) , E Els (RSA) , B Grace  (RSA) , P Casey  (Eng) , J Dufner (USA) , G Mulroy (RSA) , G Maybin (Nir) , A Hansen (Den) 

72 R Jacquelin (Fra), T Woods (USA), T Björn (Den) , F Andersson Hed (Swe) , M Manassero (Ita) , G Bourdy (Fra) , D Fichardt (RSA) , M Siem  (Ger) , P Harrington (Irl) , R Bland (Eng), R Gonzalez (Arg), M Foster (Eng) , P Lawrie (Irl) , M Hoey  (Nir) , C Lee (Sco) , K Horne (RSA) , P Price (Wal) , J Kruger (RSA) , A Tadini (Ita) , E Kofstad (Nor) , G Storm  (Eng) 

73 H Otto (RSA) , T Levet (Fra) , R Ramsay  (Sco) , R Wattel  (Fra) , M Ilonen  (Fin) , F Molinari (Ita) , P Whiteford (Sco), R Coles (Eng), O Fisher  (Eng) , S Webster (Eng) , J Quesne  (Fra) , T Aiken (RSA) , A Cañizares  (Esp) , S Chowrasia (Ind) , C Cévaër (Fra) , C Wood  (Eng) , P Hanson (Swe) , M Baldwin (Eng) 

74 A Hartø  (Den) , L Gagli  (Ita) , V Dubuisson  (Fra) , P Lawrie (Sco) , D Horsey (Eng) , R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) , A Dodt (Aus) , T Lewis (Eng) , B Wiesberger  (Aut) , G Lockerbie  (Eng) , G Bhullar (Ind) , J Campillo (Esp) 

75 S Jamieson  (Sco) , I Garrido (Esp) , T Hamilton (USA) , J Morrison  (Eng) , J Gonnet  (Fra) , R McIlroy  (Nir) , S Dyson  (Eng) , S Khan (Eng) , M Fraser (Aus) , N Fasth (Swe) , R Finch  (Eng) , A Kaleka  (Fra) , B Rumford (Aus) 

76 D McGrane (Irl) , F Zanotti (Par) , A Wall (Eng) , S Gallacher (Sco) , K Broberg (Swe) , T Fleetwood  (Eng) , P McGinley (Irl) , P Meesawat  (Tha) , J Van Zyl (RSA) , C Montgomerie  (Sco) , J Olazábal (Esp) , M Wiegele  (Aut) , A Noren  (Swe) , R Rock (Eng) 

 77 D Drysdale (Sco) , J Lara (Esp) , C Doak (Sco) ,

78 P Waring  (Eng) , S Henry  (Sco) , E Molinari  (Ita) , G Havret  (Fra) , M Warren (Sco) , F Aguilar (Chi) , M Lafeber (Ned) , E Grillo (Arg) , S Lowry  (Irl) 

79 D Clarke (Nir) 

80 J Hansen  (Den) 

81 A Levy (Fra) , C Nicoll (Sco) , S Al Marzuqui (am) (UAE)

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

BYRNE AND STEWART SITTING PRETTY AT SUNSHINE Q SCHOOL

James Byrne and Michael Stewart are lying joint sixth and 12th respectively after three rounds of the South African Sunshine Tour Qualifying School at Schoeman Park Golf Club. The top 60 and ties after four rounds will contest the final round at the end of which the leading 30 and ties will earn playing privileges on the tour. Banchory's Byrne is on nine-under-par 207 after rounds of 68, 66 and 73. A double bogey 6 at the 15th contributed to his first over-par score of the week.  Stewart, from Troon, is at last showing the form that made him Scottish amateur champion and earned Walker Cup honours alongside Byrne at Balgownie in September 2011.  He covered the last 10 holes in the third round in six under par with eagle 3s at the ninth and 12th and birdies at the 10th and 15th. Home in 32, Stewart tagged a five-under 67 on to earlier efforts of 72 and 70 for a tally of 209. South Africans are in the first three places with J P Van Der Walt leading the field at 15-under-par 201, made up of scores of 66, 66 and 69. SOUTH AFRICAN SUNSHINE TOUR QUALIFYING SCHOOLSchoeman Park Golf Club.LEADING THIRD-ROUND TOTALSPar 216 (3x72)Players from South Africa unless stated201 J P Van derWalt 66 66 69.203 M J Daffue 63 70 70.204 Bradley Sinnett (am) 66 73 65. BRITISH SCORES207 James Byrne (Sco) 68 66 73 (T6).208 Laurie Canter (Eng) 68 74 66 (T9).209 Michael Stewart (Sco) 72 70 67, Ross McGowan (Eng) 70 68 71 (T12).219 TimRice (Ire) 71 68 71 (T18)211 Michael Downes (Eng) 69 71 71 (T22) 213 Rhys Enoch (Wal) 73 69 71 (T34) 216 Charlie Ford (Eng) 73 68 75 (T66).

JAMES WHITE LOSES IN FIRST ROUND OF AUSSIE MATCH-PLAY

TO VIEW ALL TODAY'S RESULTS IN THE AUSTRALIAN
MEN'S AND WOMEN;S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS

CLICK HERE

Scotland's only qualifier for the match-play stages, James White (Lundin) lost by one hole to the No 19 seed, Fidel Concepcion from South Wales.
Englishman Craig Hinton (2 and 1), Garrick Porteous (1 hole), Nathan Kimsey (3 and2) and Neil Raymond (4 and 3) all won their matches.

Information that was not available yesterday:

The Scots who did not survive the 36-hole qualifying test
scored as follows (148 and better was the cut-off mark)
     
153 Graeme Robertson (Glenbervie) 78 75
158 Gordon Stevenson (Whitecraigs) 74 84  

REPORT AND SCORES FROM ASIAN TOUR FINAL Q SCHOOL

NEWS RELEASE FROM THE ASIAN TOUR

Hua Hin, Thailand: India’s Rashid Khan, Pelle Edberg of Sweden and Australian Kunal Bhasin are among those who kept their Asian Tour cards bid alive in the second round of the Qualifying School First Stage Section B on Thursday.

However, the story of the day belonged to Matt Johnston of Canada who posted a six-under-par 66 for a two-shot lead over Australian amateur Daniel Bringolf at the Imperial Lakeview Golf Club. 

Johnston registered an 11-under-par 133 total while highly rated Khan, aiming for a spot in the Qualifying School Final Stage presented by Sports Authority of Thailand for the third consecutive year, was a further eight shots back in tied eighth place.

 

A total of 83 players made the halfway cut at Imperial Lakeview with the cut set at six-over-par 150.

 

At the Springfield Royal Country Club, French amateur Lionel Weber and South African Bryce Easton kept their noses in front for the second straight day.

The duo fired matching three-under-par 69s to lead on 12-under-par 132 while former European Tour player Edberg, who registered a 64, was a further shot back.

After losing his Asian Tour card in 2012, Bhasin is aiming for a swift return on the region’s elite circuit as he shot a 70 for tied 11^th place.

The second round at Springfield Royal was suspended for the day due to fading light. A total of three players have yet to finish their rounds and will return at 7am on Friday to complete round two. Round three will not start before 8.30am. Before the suspension, the projected was at six-over.

After four rounds, the top 15% players from each venue will qualify for the all-important Final Stage which will be held at Imperial Lakeview and Springfield Royal next week.

The top-40 and ties from the Final Stage will earn playing rights on the new 2013 Asian Tour season.

Players who play in the Qualifying School are also eligible to play in the Asian Development Tour (ADT) which will be afforded with Official World Golf Ranking points starting this season.

FOR THE SPRINGFIELD ROYAL SCORES

CLICK HERE 

FOR THE IMPERIAL LAKEVIEW SCORES

CLICK HERE

GOOD START IN AUSSIE HEAT BY TEAM GB GOLFERS

REPORT FROM  TEAM GB CAPTAIN TEGWEN MATTHEWS

Team GB were off to a steady start in the first round at Twin Creeks Golf Club today, when play started at 7.30am and temperatures rose to 35 degrees by mid-morning for the first day of the Australian Youth Olympics Festival.

A sizzling round of eight-under-par 64, marred only by a bogey on the last, put  Team GB member Ashton Turner into top spot for the boys' individual event.
China are lying second with a 67, followed closely by New Zealand on 68 and a host of players on 69, including Team GB member Bradley Neil.

Bradley’s score also contributed to the Team event, where together with a level par score of 72, posted by Team GB member Ewan Scott and 71 and 74 by the girls, Georgia Hall and Chloe Williams, gave them a team total of 286 and tied first with Australia.

New Zealand lie eight shots behind on 294, followed closely by China on 296.

The girls also fared well to lead the individual event, with Team GB members Georgia Hall and Gabriella Cowley both posting one under par 71s. China and Australia are hot on their heels  on level par 72

All the players felt they left some shots out there, including Ashton who bogeyed the last in his scintillating 64!

However, with three more rounds to complete, there is plenty of opportunity for them to maximise their performance, and they are just itching to get out there and do just that!

Team GB Individual scores

Par 72

Boys

Ashton Turner    64

Bradley Neil       69

Ewan Scott        72

Harry Ellis          72

Jack Singh Brar 73

Girls

Georgia Hall        71

Gabriella Cowley 71

Chloe Williams    74

Amber Ratcliffe   75

Lauren Whyte      76