GOLF DUBAI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:THE PUGILIST knows an opening jab sets down a marker, nothing else. There's no knock-out blow.
Yesterday, on this course handed the grandiose title of The Earth, two men went in search of the world. And, if a blow-in by the name of Robert Allenby finished the day atop the leaderboard in the Dubai World Championship, it was the manoeuvring of Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood in their quests to claim the Order of Merit that kept us enthralled.
McIlroy’s opening 68 was two shots more than Westwood’s, and if the numbers had been crunched as the sun slipped behind the desert dunes last evening McIlroy would have seen Westwood leapfrog him.
But that game of numbers meant nothing, other than to remind each of them how close this race to destiny has become. There is no room for error, no place to hide.
The course proved relatively benign, with no fewer than 33 of the 58-man field breaking par. Allenby, an Australian who has made only limited forays on to the European Tour this season but still qualified for the season’s limited-field finale, led the way with a 65 that featured eight birdies.
But, intriguingly, three of the four players who’d started the day with mathematical chances of topping the money list also finished in red numbers.
Ross Fisher, with a 73, was the exception.
But as Martin Kaymer remarked of his Order of Merit prospects after a 71, “It’s a marathon this week . . . there’s three days to go”.
In fact, McIlroy, who came into this tournament in pole position, adopted a similarly philosophical outlook. He certainly wasn’t reaching for any calculators.
“68 on day one? It’s a great score to build on. But, you know, it’s only Thursday and we still have a lot of golf to play. There’s 54 holes to play.”
Maybe it will be no harm that McIlroy and Westwood, who were paired together yesterday, will be going their separate ways, at least for the second round. Human nature being what it is, the temptation to look into the eyes of your main rival for the Order of Merit can be difficult to resist.
As McIlroy conceded, “We were both trying to concentrate on our own games. But I found it tough to play together just because you want to try to concentrate on the tournament. At the same time, you’re seeing what he’s doing.
“It will be good for both of us tomorrow to not play with each other, we can concentrate fully on our own rhythms and just go out and shoot a good number.”
At one stage yesterday it seemed as if Westwood would leave his young rival in the dust, as the Englishman, who won the money title in 2000, birdied four of five holes from the seventh.
McIlroy, in fact, was only spurred into life when he caught notice of a leaderboard by the ninth green – as he walked into a greenside bunker.
“I was like, ‘I need to start playing here’. That was the point where I was like, ‘I still want to win this tournament’.”
At the time, McIlroy was level par (he got up and down to save par), but then went on an assault on the back nine with birdies on the 11th, 13th, 14th and 15th which moved him back into the tournament. He actually drew level with Westwood when the Englishman bogeyed the 14th.
However, Westwood’s impressive response was to reel off a hat-trick of birdies, starting with a chip-in on the 15th and finishing with a monster, 45-footer on the 17th to confirm he was up for the challenge.
Westwood has adopted the approach that if he plays well in the tournament, the Order of Merit will look after itself.
“I’m here to try and win this golf tournament, and if something else happens after that, great. But there’s a long way to go, a lot of water to go under the bridge before we get to Sunday. A lot of jockeying for position, and you’re going to have to play well to get into contention.”
That just three shots separate nine players at the top of the leaderboard would back up Westwood’s theory that there will be much chopping and changing over the next three days.
All he knows is that a win will sort everything out, killing two birds with one stone.
Thing is, McIlroy knows it too.
