Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Marvelous Mac is Back.

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.

Euro Tour. BMW International Open. 3rd Round Three Way Tie.

The third round ended in a three-way tie in the BMW International Open at the Golfclub München Eichenried course between Ernie Els, Alexander Levy and Alex Noren. All three players finished the day with a tournament total of -15 under par.

Ernie Els / Getty

Ernie has been caught at the top of the leaderboard in the BMW International Open, after a two hours and twenty minutes delay for rain in the third round. Ernie had a trio of three putts, but recovered with three birdies in his last five holes for a -3 under par 69 and to hang on at the top;

“All in all I’ve got to be happy, I was a little out of sorts on the greens on the front nine, I didn’t quite get the pace of the greens. They are a little bit faster for some reason and I kept hitting it past and then didn’t make the returns, but I made a little slight adjustment and played some proper stuff coming in. If it wasn’t for those three three putts I had, I would have had a really good score. I was playing so nicely that I felt I’m trying to pull away from the field, and then the opposite happened, and I made some mistakes. I’m in a good position still, just hanging onto the lead or co leader now, and tomorrow is all to play for.”

Alexander Levy was happy with his score, and to have played with Ernie;

“I played very well, I’m very happy. It was great for me to play with a fantastic player. It’s nice to play with him, very happy, it was unbelievable. It was tough, but I like this position.  I practiced for that and I’m happy to be in this position for tomorrow. I like to play in the top, I prefer this position. I want to be like that all the time. I don’t know what happens tomorrow, but I will go to make the job like today, and play golf on a golf course in good condition and I am happy.”

Alex Noren  started the day three shots adrift of the lead, but made up the deficit with a -6 under par 66 round;

” I hit a lot of good shots and a few bad ones, but you always do. You’ve got to be aggressive, because there are so many guys. The leaderboard is as tight as ever with so many good players. Yeah, I’ve got to be aggressive and maybe more aggressive tomorrow than today. I came off the bogey on 15, and it was a perfect distance for the three wood and I hit it great. Marcel  hit it really close just before me, so I knew it was possible, but then I managed to hole the putt, it was great.”

Tied in fourth spot are Matthew Baldwin and Thomas Bjorn, both just one shot adrift at -14 under par. Home favorites Martin Kaymer and Marcel Siem are close by, in the group of  five players at -12 under par.

The leaderboard is still tightly compacted, with eleven players within three shots of the leaders. It will be a real battle for supremacy tomorrow.

Euro Tour. BMW International Open. Els Excels

Ernie Els excelled at the BMW International Open in the first round, firing an opening gambit of -9 under par 63.

Ernie Els / Getty Images

After a low-scoring opening round at the BMW International Open in Munich, Ernie Els has a one shot lead over Germany’s favorite, Martin Kaymer.

Ernie said he was really happy to be away from the torture of the U.S. Open at Merion;

” It’s really nice, and just a pleasure to play, not to go through a torture chamber like we did at the US Open, it’s a nice start.“It seems like it’s really a day of scoring today, if you shoot a really low one, it’s nice. It takes the pressure off the rest of the tournament a little bit. Although you’re leading, it doesn’t really mean much until Sunday, but if you get into the race, so to speak, early on in the tournament, it’s nice to be right in the hunt.
Guys will be shooting low this afternoon and tomorrow morning, so I probably won’t be in the lead by the time I tee off. But it’s nice to have got a good round under my belt and can start kind of going for Sunday. I’ve really been working hard at my game. Especially obviously going into the US Open and really around the PGA at Wentworth, I could feel things were coming around a bit. I had a bit of an iffy year up to now, but I really feel that my swing feels good and my body feels good, touch wood. So I can swing the club, properly.”

Martin was  the 2008 winner of this event, and was one of four players to complete the first round in -8 under par 64, joining him on that score were Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen, England’s Matthew Baldwin and Swede Alexander Noren.

Martin was also happy to be playing a different course than Merion;

” In general, the last few months, I haven’t had a low round at all, so obviously it’s a little bit of a different golf course that we play this week, so there are lots of chances. It’s a nice start. The expectations were very high, I put a lot of pressure on myself and obviously it’s the only tournament we play in Germany, so very pleased, I’m very happy. I just want to put myself in position. It’s not so much about really trying to win.  I try to put myself in position on Sunday, and then we will see and I think I will have an advantage with the people here and very good support. I had fun today and I had a good group, too, to play with.”

Robert, Matthew and Alex were all bogey free in perfect conditions at Golfclub München Eichenried, to stay one shot clear of the next group of three players at -7 under par. Dustin Johnson was a further shot back at -6 under par, and he was another player who expressed relief at being away from the tough Merion course;

” I drove it well, hit it well. I holed a couple putts but I missed quite a few short ones. Merion was playing really tough, so it’s nice to come here where, this golf course, you’ve still got to play good golf and hit good shots and get it close to the hole. But it’s a lot of fun and there’s a lot of birdies out there, I’m happy with where I’m at right now and I’m looking forward to coming back in the morning and playing better.”

Asides;

The weather here in Wellington was unimaginable last night, winds gusting over 100 mph and torrential rain. The golf course will be closed today, that’s an understatement.

Ballantine’s Championship. Another Golfing Weather Delay.

The Ballantine’s Championship at Blackstone Golf Club in South Korea has started with a weather delay in the first round, wonder if its the same storm clouds that interrupted Harbour Town.

Lewis Oosthuizen / Getty Images

There are currently five players tied at the top of the leaderboard at the Ballantine’s, all at -5 under par, with completed rounds of 67. there are still some players who could impact the top of this board, including Lewis Oosthuizen, who actually started his round with four birdies. Lewis still has two holes to complete, along with Tommy Fleetwood, both currently at -4 under par.

Lewis said he was happy with his start;

” It’s a good start, I’m hitting it really well. I made nice putts, hit it fairly close the front nine, and probably made one or two longish birdie putts. Then teed off on ten and the wind came in, with the weather coming in, and I probably just missed two shots and put myself in really tough spots to get up and down and then made bogey. But I’m feeling good, spinning it well, I haven’t hit it that well in a while like I did on the front nine.”

At the top are, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, Kieran Pratt, Johan Edfors, Matthew Baldwin and local player Kim Gi-whan all completed their rounds after the delay of  two hours and ten minutes, due to rain and poor visibility.

Unfortunately there are no Americans contesting this tournament, the political tensions with North Korea have turned the competition into a no go area for them.

Jean-Baptiste was happy to be at the top;

” It was good to put my name up right away, because I haven’t played like this for more than a year. I played pretty straight off the tee, and my putting was great; five under is a good score.”

Another happy camper was Johan Edfors;

” I was really happy I came out of the block pretty good there on the front nine and played some really, really good golf.”

The first round will be completed tomorrow, before the start of the second round, lets hope for some better weather.