Justin Rose shares the lead after round one of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship
Justin Rose of England fired a five-under par 67, in the opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, to share the lead with Jamie Donaldson, on Thursday, January 17, 2012.
The tournament is being played at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, featuring top-notch players from different parts of the world.
Rose is participating in the event for the first time in his career. His performance on the debut hole of the tournament was not an impressive one, as he bogeyed the opening hole.
Thereafter, he picked up pace and carded birdies on the second, third and the fifth hole. He then added another two shots to his scorecard, by draining birdie putts on the eighth and the ninth hole.
Entering the back nine of the course, he was trailing the clubhouse leader Donaldson with one stroke. He then birdied the opening hole, on the back nine, to stand alongside Donaldson on the leaderboard.
Afterwards, he had a great chance to take and extend sole lead. However, the Englishman failed to add further shots to his scorecard, as he parred each of the last eight holes that he played.
“I holed a very long putt on the fifth green,” said Rose. “It must have been 50, 60 feet, so clearly a bonus there”.
He added, “I think if I'm completely honest, I didn't have it completely under control today with the long game. – it didn't feel perfect. I think it was the nature of the day, very difficult to hit every shot perfectly out there. I think it was the kind
of day that you have to accept there were going to be some mistakes. I don't think you're going to get many clean rounds of golf out there”.
The world number one Rory McIlroy, in the meantime, failed to mark a decent start to his campaign in Abu Dhabi, as he faltered for a three-over par 75. It was the first time that McIlroy was using his new clubs, made by Nike.
On the other hand, Tiger Woods started his 2013 golf campaign with an even-par 72 at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
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