Rafa Cabrera-Bello, in three-way tie for first-round lead in Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
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Spaniard Rafa Cabrera-Bello, a previous winner on the European Tour’s ‘Desert Swing’, fired an opening round five-under-par 67 for a three-way share of the lead with Englishman Matthew Baldwin and France's Romain Wattel in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Classic.
Cabrera-Bello won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in 2012, and he got off to an ideal start in his bid to lift another trophy in the Middle East, beginning 2014 with six birdies and just a single bogey on the opening hole.
“I have not competed for the last five weeks, and even though I have been practising and trying to recreate competition, it's not quite the same, so I'm pretty pleased with this start,” said the 29 year old from Gran Canaria.
“I've always said that I feel very comfortable here. It reminds me a bit of home with the palm trees and the sand and the good weather, so I enjoy playing in short sleeves and in the sunshine.”
Both Baldwin and Wattel are searching for their maiden wins on the European Tour, each having finish as a runner up before, Wattel in the 2012 Omega European Masters in Switzerland and Baldwin in the Nelson Mandela Championship last month.
Baldwin mixed seven birdies with two bogeys in his round and he admitted
that his morale was high following his career-best performance in South
Africa.
“It's given me confidence to go on and keep challenging and maybe a win
is around the corner, you never know. I want to win. There are plenty of
guys that obviously want to win as well, but I think looking at the
year ahead, top 60 (on The Race to Dubai)
is a target but definitely to get a win under the belt would be
superb.”
Wattel did not drop a shot in his opening round, carding five birdies,
and after spending the past week in Dubai practising, he feels his game
is in good shape ahead of a big year.
“I just tried to play solid today,” he said. “Abu Dhabi is a good test
all the time, so I’m really pleased with five‑under par and it's
obviously really nice to start the tournament.”
Scotland’s Craig Lee finished his round by posting four birdies in a row
before holing a 35ft par putt on the last to lie one shot back on four
under par in a seven-way share of fourth place.
He is joined by 2014 European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley, who
threatened to upstage many of the hopefuls hoping to secure a place in
his team for Gleneagles. The Irishman reached five under par himself
after five birdies in his opening 11 holes, but dropped
a shot on 16th – when he chipped in for bogey after finding the water -
for a round of 68.
Dutchman Joost Luiten, who finished tied third in last week’s Volvo Golf
Champions, is also on four under par, along with the South African pair
of George Coetzee and Dawie Van der Walt, Scotland’s Marc Warren, and
Portugal’s José Filipe Lima.
There was a positive start to the new year for former World No. 1 Rory McIlroy who started 2014 with a bogey-free two under par round of
70, the same score as Englishman Luke Donald and three-time winner
Martin Kaymer, while reigning Open champion Phil
Mickelson opened with a one over par 73 – carding 17 straight pars
before dropping a shot at the ninth, his final hole of the day.
Sergio Garcia, with only one birdie, shot a four-over 76 but Paul Lawrie could do no better than an 80.
Paul had a double bogey 6 at the 13th and a triple bogey 7 at the 16th in halves of 37 and 43. He would need to shoot in the low 60s in the second round to have any chance of making the cut.
SERGIO GARCIA SAYS THE ROUGH
IS DANGEROUS
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Phil Mickelson didn't have much success with his new driver in
the first round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, failing to make
a single birdie in a 1-over 73 to sit six shots behind the leaders.
Mickelson made 17 straight pars in his first round of the year before
a bogey on his last hole, joining a number of big names who struggled
on the opening day.
"I can't recall the last time I had a round without a birdie," Mickelson said. "But didn't make a bogey there until the last."
Mickelson's playing partner Rory McIlroy carded a 70 while Henrik
Stenson had four bogeys in a 74 and Sergio Garcia complained about the
rough being "dangerous" after a 76.
Mickelson said before the event that he was driving better than ever
after getting a new driver from Callaway Golf that he said could turn
one of his weaknesses into a strength.
However, he only hit five of 14 fairways on the Peter Harradine-designed course.
"This first round, I was a little tentative, played a little
cautious, didn't trust my swing too much," Mickelson said. "I haven't
been out in competition for a while but then it was good to get my feet
wet."
McIlroy was upbeat after showing signs of the same form he displayed
at the end of the 2013 season, which earned him the victory in last
month's Australian Open in Sydney.
"I feel the benefit of ending last year well and then starting off
this year with a lot of hard work, it's sort of showed off," McIlroy
said.
"Today was my first competitive round since the start of December,
and I drove the ball as well as I have done in a long time."
Martin Kaymer, a three-time winner in Abu Dhabi had a costly double bogey on the 14th and also finished with a 70.
Garcia said he hurt his shoulder while playing the Pro-Am on
Wednesday, and said he was troubled by the thick rough -- needing
treatment on his 13th hole.
Garcia said the rough is "very, very thick," and that "they have cut
it from from the green back to the tee, and by doing that the ball nestles down
quite a bit.
"You just have to hit it so hard into the ground to get it out and
when you're not 100 percent it doesn't help at all," Garcia said.
"I
would say that it's dangerous and hopefully nobody else will get injured
because it could happen to several guys this week."
ALL THE FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 72
67 M Baldwin (Eng) , R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) , R Wattel (Fra)
68 J Luiten (Ned) , G Coetzee (RSA) , D Van Der Walt (RSA) , P McGinley (Irl) , C Lee (Sco) , J Lima (Por) , M Warren (Sco)
69
W Ormsby (Aus) , O Fisher (Eng) , J Singh (Ind) , M Hoey (Nir) , M
Siem (Ger) , T Hatton (Eng) , S Webster (Eng) , P Larrazábal (Esp)
70
T Aiken (RSA), T Jaidee (Tha), T Björn (Den), L Donald (Eng), S
Gallacher (Sco), H Otto (RSA), E Pepperell (Eng) , R Santos (Por) , R
McIlroy (NIr) , M Kaymer (Ger) , D McGrane (Irl) , P Hanson
(Swe) , J Jeong (SKor) , E De La Riva (Esp) , E Molinari (Ita) , D
Fichardt (RSA)
71
M Carlsson (Swe) , T Lewis (Eng) , J Quesne (Fra) , R Bland (Eng), R
Dinwiddie (Eng) , R Gonzalez (Arg), N Fasth (Swe), P Harrington
(Irl) , M Manassero (Ita) , B Stone (RSA) , C Wood (Eng) , A
Cañizares (Esp) , S Kapur (Ind) , M Kieffer (Ger) , S Thornton (Irl) ,
R Jacquelin (Fra) , A Quiros (Esp)
72 M
Foster (Eng) , M Fraser (Aus) , R Rock (Eng) , K Phelan (Irl) , A
Saddier (Fra) , G Bhullar (Ind) , G Havret (Fra) , E Grillo (Arg) , N
Elvira (Esp) , J Campillo (Esp) , P Casey (Eng)
73
J Carlsson (Swe) , R Karlsson (Swe) , K Broberg (Swe) , B Grace (RSA) ,
J Donaldson (Wal) , A Sullivan (Eng) , P Waring (Eng) , S Benson (Eng)
, B Wiesberger (Aut) , G Maybin (NIr) , D Willett (Eng)
, C Montgomerie (Sco) , F Zanotti (Par) , P Mickelson (USA) , D Horsey
(Eng) , T Fleetwood (Eng) , P Lawrie (Irl) , D Howell (Eng) , S
Kjeldsen (Den) , M Jiménez (Esp) , S Dyson (Eng) , L Slattery (Eng)
74
P Whiteford (Sco) , G Stal (Fra) , T Olesen (Den) , M Ilonen (Fin) , G
Storm (Eng) , A Levy (Fra) , D Clarke (Nir) , P Uihlein (USA) , R
Fisher (Eng) , F Calmels (Fra) , H Stenson (Swe) , V Riu (Fra)
, J Olazábal (Esp) , M Crespi (Ita)
75 C Del Moral (Esp) , C Doak (Sco) , D Huizing (Ned) , B Rumford (Aus) , M Madsen (Den) ,
76
H Wen-Yi (Chn) , J Kruger (RSA) , S Garcia (Esp) , R Green (Aus) , A
Wall (Eng) , T Pieters (Bel) , S Lowry (Irl) , J Parry (Eng) , K
Aphibarnrat (Tha)
77 A Pavan (Ita) , G Mulroy (RSA) , A Otaegui (Esp) , J Hansen (Den) , B Koepka (USA) ,
78 M Campbell (Nzl) , J McLeary (Sco) , S Hansen (Den) , S Kim (SKor)
79 M Nixon (Eng)
80 P Lawrie (Sco)
82 A Almusharrekh (Uae) , T Levet (Fra) ,
DQ J Walters (RSA)
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