With day one of the action all wrapped up at the DP World Tour Championship, what are the key storylines so far?
Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
With a stellar field in place and high stakes aplenty, the DP World Tour Championship seemed all set for an exhilarating opening round.
It would probably be unfair to say that promise wasn’t delivered upon, it’s just that the fireworks didn’t come from the sources many expected.
With European Tour legends like Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia having good starts, familiar names weren’t lacking, but all set up for a shootout between the Race to Dubai contenders, the fans witnessed those supposed frontrunners struggling.
Just as we’ve seen in the past couple of weeks, with a limited field and no cut in play, there’s still plenty of time for that to change though.
With the course giving up good scores to those who put their ball in good position, but yielding very little to those who stray from the straight and narrow, it’s certainly all still to play for in Dubai.
What were the key takeaways from the first day’s play at the Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth Course though? Let’s take a closer look.
Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Westwood Looking For Further Dubai Glory
The winner by a six-stroke margin here back in 2009, Lee Westwood clearly has fond memories of the Jumeirah Estates’ Earth Course. With an impressive opening round on Thursday, he also flashed some of the best golf he’s played in recent months too.
Seven birdies and a bogey saw Westwood cruise around a course that many found to be a tough test in a score of 66, and should leave him full of confidence as he looks to finish out the week and the season with a notable win.
After a poor showing at the Ryder Cup, Westwood impressed with a third placed finish at the British Masters, but has been dealing with patchy form for most of the season. There’s no doubting that Westwood has the game to kick on this week, but has he the consistency?
Mandatory Credit: Eric Sucar-USA TODAY Sports
Garcia Impresses On Day One
If not for a double bogey on the 16th, Sergio Garcia would be keeping Westwood company at the top after an impressive opening round of his own.
Outside of that single mishap as his round wound down, Garcia’s scorecard was blemish free on Thursday as he recorded four birdies and an eagle, and as a result the often quick tempered Spaniard remained in good spirits post-round.
Garcia has often thrived upon returning to Europe over the years, and with many of this week’s supposed frontrunners having figuratively struggled to get out of the blocks to start the week, Garcia should be relishing the prospect of the days ahead.
Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Race To Dubai Contenders Struggle
In spite of only shooting a level par round of 72, Henrik Stenson will have left the course relatively satisfied on Thursday, as the men he needs to hold off to win the Race to Dubai this week failed to take advantage.
Rory McIlroy waved goodbye to his slim chances with an opening 75 leaving him back in 55th place. Alex Noren and Danny Willett both played solid golf, but won’t feel like they’ve made the most of their scores in finishing with a 71.
If there’s to be any drama surrounding the outcome of the Race to Dubai in the coming days, Noren and Willett will likely need to shoot low on day two.
Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports
DP World Tour Championship – Day 1 Leaderboard
1 – Lee Westwood – 66 (-6)
T2 – Nicholas Colsaerts – 67 (-5)
T2 – Julien Quesne – 67 (-5)
T4 – Sergio Garcia – 68 (-4)
T4 – Francesco Molinari – 68 (-4)
T4 – Joost Luiten – 68 (-4)
Check back with us tomorrow as we’ll have all the key takeaways heading into the weekend, at the halfway mark of the DP World Tour Championship.
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