Marvelous Rory McIlroy is back, he leads the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club.
Rory McIlroy / Getty Images
Rory carded seven birdies and an eagle, in his opening round of -9 under par 63 at Emirates Golf Club to lead the competition by two shots. He said it was good and that he was close to his best, and how comfortable he feels right now;
“It was good, it was really nice. I played really well from tee to green, drove the ball great again. I think I only missed a couple of fairways and only missed one green where I had to really get it up and down. I took advantage of how I am driving the ball and just need to do more of the same the next three days. It’s close, obviously, this year I’ve shot a couple of good rounds. This is a little lower than I went in Abu Dhabi and I feel very comfortable with my game.”
Sitting two behind is Italian Edoardo Molinari, who shot a first round -7 under par 65, with a bogey on the last hole, a six on the par five.
Edoardo kept telling us how well he hit the ball;
“It was a good day. I played a couple of practice rounds in the morning and in the afternoon it’s definitely more difficult, especially the back nine was quite tricky, but I hit the ball really well. I missed a couple of putts but I’m hitting the ball really well. I’ve been hitting the ball very well lately, and especially off the tee. The only blemish on the card was eighteen today, and I actually didn’t commit to the shot. But apart from that, I think I hit every fairway all day. Tomorrow I’ll be able to play in the morning with softer greens, and I think that’s going to be a big help tomorrow, because surely the greens will be firmer and firmer as the week goes by.”
There is a group of five players on -6 under par in third spot, they are; Stephen Gallacher, Richard Sterne, Julien Quesne, Damien McGrane and Matthew Baldwin, who all carded rounds of 66.
Stephen played alongside Tiger and Rory and had this to say of the Worlds number one;
” Me and Tiger had a couple of holes where we had great saves of par but it was one of those days where we took advantage of the conditions, it was quite benign. It was great to play with Tiger and Fred Couples in the Champions event on Tuesday, that eased me in and I knew what to expect.”
Tiger Woods opened with a -4 under par 68, tied in tenth place. Tiger said he played OK;
“I played all right today. I probably could have got a couple more out of it. I didn’t hit a bad putt today which was nice, it was just that sometimes the grain grabbed it pretty hard at the end.”
Rory also thinks Tiger is playing well;
“He’s a true pro, he knows there are no pictures on a scorecard. He was hitting it a lot better at the end of the round but to shoot the score he did on our front nine was a good effort.”
Lets see how well Tiger plays tomorrow, and for that matter lets see if Rory can put four great rounds together.
White Dragon Golf 