Slow starts for many top golfers at the WGC-HSBC Champions
With Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy missing from the field, it was expected that the likes of Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Brandt Snedeker would lead the charge at WGC-HSBC Champions. Instead, Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen made headlines on Thursday.
Lee Westwood and Ernie Els both shot 2-under 70 on Thursday, whereas Brandt Snedeker and Justin Rose shot even par rounds.
This comes as a big surprise because Lee Westwood and Brandt Snedeker are really good ball strikers and pundits expected them to do well.
Justin Rose was currently the man in form. Rose has been playing some excellent golf over the last few weeks and people expected the world number 5 to start well at the Mission Hills.
Nick Watney came after a very good week in Malaysia where he won the CIMB Classic, defeating the likes of Tiger Woods and Bo Van Pelt.
He also did not have the best of days, as he opened up his account with an ever par round as well.
There was one positive to take home after the first round for Ernie. The South African shot only two birdies but he had a flawless round.
Starting off solidly is always a decent advantage, as it gives the players the momentum going in to the final few rounds.
On the other hand, Lee Westwood’s round was a typical one. He started off slowly but finished decently, with three consecutive birdies on his last three holes. This must have given him some confidence and a major morale boost for the upcoming rounds.
American Brandt Snedeker is currently tied at T34 after his round of 72. Snedeker started off nicely with a birdie right on the first hole.
However, a double bogey on the 7th followed by a bogey on the 8th did the damage for the Ryder Cup rookie.
The key to success at the Olazabal Course lies on the par-5s and none of these golfers took their advantage.
The likes of Luke Donald, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Luis Oosthuizen were successful because they got the desired results from those five holes. On the contrary, the likes Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, and Snedeker failed to make use of them.
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