It was an incredibly strange day Thursday in Dubai.
First, Rory McIlroy has never shot an over-par score in the DP World Tour Championship, not until the first round.
McIlroy, the defending champion in the event and defender of the Race To Dubai overall title, found too much trouble, too many problems on the Earth course at Jemeirah Golf Estates. It all added up to an incredibly untidy three-over par 75 that left him way out of touch with the leader.
And that was the second leg of the Thursday surprise in Dubai.
Lee Westwood, the goat of the losing European Ryder Cup team, grabbed the first-day lead with a stellar six-under par 66, a whopping nine shots better than McIlroy, the fourth-place player in the overall points standings.
It was a very unexciting day overall for the top contenders for the European Tour’s equivalent of the FedEx Cup.
Points leader Henrik Stenson basically couldn’t buy a putt and finished with an even par round of 72 that left him tied for 33rd, six shots off Westwood’s pace.
Danny Willett, No. 2 behind Stenson, fared better and actually fared quite well consider the overall state of his game had been pretty glum coming into this season finale. Willett managed a one-under par 71 and was tied for 24th along with Alex Noren, last week’s winner at the Nedbank and third in the overall points race.
Two players were tied for second behind Westwood — Nicolas Colsaets from Belgium and France’s Julien Quesne. Both opened with 67s.
