Henrik Stenson has such fondness for the United Arab Emirates he once called it home. Now the British Open champion has set his sights on the closing out what would be a unique European Tour haul.
No player has claimed what could be classed as the desert slam; victory in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Dubai Desert Classic, Qatar Masters and DP World Tour Championship. Stenson has three of that group to his name and the Swede’s first-round lead in Abu Dhabi on Thursday offered proof he has the form to complete the quartet on Sunday.
Two aspects of Stenson’s 64 were ominous for the remainder of this field. First, the 40-year-old arrived in the UAE having undertaken little build-up work because of festive family commitments. More striking still was that Stenson’s eight under par appeared wonderfully effortless; he did not drop a shot and also played the back nine – his opening half – in 30 strokes. Stenson’s total of 27 putts showed he had a bit to spare.
“It must be the lack of practice that does it,” the 40-year-old said. “Lack of sleep, lack of practice. I’m delighted with that score. I think I scored a bit better than how I played but I kept it under control somewhat, hit a couple of close iron shots and made the putts. There wasn’t too much stress out there.
“I didn’t come in here expecting too much given the light start-up I had but with this start, of course I hope I can keep it going throughout the week.”
Relaxation aside, Stenson’s off-season included resetting targets. “I just want to keep on developing my game,” he said. “I will keep on working hard on that, come into the Majors well prepared and well rested and try to put myself in contention. I feel like I can get the Claret Jug some company if I do that. I’m going to try my hardest.”
Among those in close pursuit is Martin Kaymer, a three-times champion here, who adopted an alternative winter approach. The German signed for a 66. "After my 2014 season when I won my second Major, you kind of take it a little bit easier," Kaymer said. "Then you see it the next year on the golf course, where I had a lot of top-10 finishes but that little bit of extra that you need in order to win was missing. Therefore, this time I went back to America and practised."
A blitz of five birdies in six holes helped Paul Dunne to an opening round of 68 and a share of 10th position.
Dunne made a solid start to the 2017 wraparound season with top 30 finishes in South Africa and Hong Kong before Christmas and the hard work over the festive period, which he alluded to on social media, is continuing to pay off.
A birdie at the par-five eighth kick-started the 24-year-old’s round, giving him the momentum to knock in four-in-a-row at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th and move up to tied second behind Stenson. A single dropped shot at the 17th put a slight dampener on the finish.
Defending champion Rickie Fowler struggled to gain any consistency as four birdies were offset by four bogeys to leave him on level par with US Open champion Dustin Johnson at the same mark.
(Guardian service)
