Westwood clickety-clicks to lead in Dubai

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Lee Westwood once again proved he is the man for the big occasion as he fired an opening 66 to take the first-round lead at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai today.
In contrast, Rory McIlroy struggled to a 75 and a share of 55th place.
Westwood triumphed at this event in 2009 as he won his second Order of Merit and has nine top three finishes in Major Championships in the last decade.
One of those was a tie for second at this year's Masters Tournament that helped him sit 12th in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex coming into this week. A season-closing win at Jumeirah Golf Estates could move him into the top five.
The 43 year old began his chase for a 24th European Tour title with seven birdies and a single bogey to sit at six under, a shot clear of Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts and Frenchman Julien Quesne

Quesne turned in 35 and, as he stood on the 14th tee, he was very much part of the pack before a stunning burst of scoring with birdies on the 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th.
There was no such drama for Colsaerts with birdies on the sixth, seventh, tenth and 15th putting him in contention before a stunning approach to the par five last saw him hit the summit ahead of Westwood's charge.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Marcus Fraser, Alexander Levy, Louis Oosthuizen and Jaco Van Zyl were in a share for seventh at three under.

FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD
par 72
66 Lee Westwood (England)
67 Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium), Julien Quesne (France)
68 Sergio Garcia (Spain), Joost Luiten (Netherlands), Francesco Molinari (Italy)
69 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa), Matthew Fitzpatrick (England), Marcus Fraser (Australia), Alexander Levy (France), Jaco Van Zyl (South Africa), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand)

SELECTED SCORES
71 Alex Noren (Sweden) (T24)
72 Henrik Stenson (Sweden), Padraig Harrington (Ireland) (T33)
75 Rory McIlroy (Ireland) (T55)
78 Andrew Johnston (England) (59th)
Field of 60 players

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