Jamie Donaldson takes clubhouse lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Jamie Donaldson of Wales fired a five-under par 67, in the opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, to take the clubhouse lead, on Thursday, January 17, 2013.
The tournament is being staged at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, featuring a number of prominent names from different parts of the world.
Last year, Donaldson won the European Tour’s Irish Open, which played a key role in his qualification for the 2013 Masters Tournament, for the first time in his career.
He made it into the top-50 in the Official World Golf Rankings, by the end of the 2012 European Tour season, which secured him a place in the first major golf championship of the season.
He now plans to further improve his position in the Official World Golf Rankings, by adding more titles to his resume this season.
He started on the back nine of the course with a birdie on the 10th hole. He then parred each of the next seven holes that he played, before adding another shot on the 18th hole, to reach the turn in two-under.
The back nine of the course witnessed him play even better, as he carded four birdies, against a lone bogey, to finish one stroke ahead of a group of three players, including Dane Thorbjørn Olesen, Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal and Justin Rose of England.
Rose is the only player, among the three, to complete his first-round campaign. He carded five birdies against a lone bogey on the front nine to card a four-under par score, with nine holes to play.
Talking to the European Tour’s official website, Donaldson expressed his pleasure in making a strong start in the tournament.
“I played some pretty good golf out there,” said Donaldson. “It's a tough day - the wind is blowing a little. Not as hard as yesterday but still a little wind here makes the golf course very difficult”.
“I hit quite a lot of good shots, and more often than not in the short stuff, which you need to be around here. The rough is very penal,” added the 37-year-old Welshman.
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