José María Olazábal starts well at the UBS Hong Kong Open
José María Olazábal opened his campaign in Hong Kong well by carding a four-under par 66, to trail the leader Javi Colomo of Spain by one stroke.
They are currently in contention at the UBS Hong Kong Open, which kicked off on Thursday, November 15, 2012.
The US$2 million event is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour, and is being played at the Hong Kong Golf Club.
Starting on the 11th hole, the European Ryder Cup team captain got off to a confident start, by recording a birdie on the 12th hole.
He then added another shot to his scorecard by draining a birdie putt on the 17th hole. On the second hole, his 10th, he played a poor tee shot and followed that by another mistake with his iron. As a result, he had to settle for a double bogey.
Yet, he did not allow a single bad hole to overhaul his overall performance, and bounced back strongly with back-to-back birdies on the third and the fourth hole.
Afterwards, he kept the momentum going and added birdies on the sixth and the tenth hole to finish the day on a high note.
He now plans to maintain consistency in the remaining three rounds, in a bid to end his seven-year winless streak on the European Tour. The 2005 Mallorca Classic was the last tournament that he won on the European circuit.
"I hit three poor shots, but apart from those the rest of the game was pretty solid,” he said. "Obviously I have to consolidate this the next few days, but it's nice to have some signs like this one”.
Having led the European winning team in the Ryder Cup this year, he is confident to win an individual title too this season.
His compatriot Miguel Angel Jiménez, in the meantime, finished tied for the second position after registering a five-under par 65.
He could have been the man in the lead after the first round. However, his back-to-back bogey putts on the last two holes cost him the lead in the end.
Still, he was pleased with his performance in the first round and expressed his wish of becoming the oldest winner on the European Tour by taking home the UBS Hong Kong title. The Spaniard is currently 48 years old.
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