It was advantage Rory McIlroy as the World No. 2 served-up an ace to Luke Donald on the opening day of the their Race to Dubai showdown.
His tennis World No. 1 ranked girlfriend, Caroline Wozinacki will be on hand to see McIlroy take a five-shot lead over Donald into the second round of the Dubai World Championship.
After it seemed half the crowd following McIlroy was looking for his lost ball at the second, the reigning U.S. Open champion superbly regrouped from the double bogey to then register eight birdies in a score of a six under par 66.
Rory McIlroy gets his hands around the most photographed bottle of empty bubbly after his opening round in the 2011 Dubai World Championship. (Photo - Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
McIlroy went from level par after eight holes to be six under over his closing nine.
Donald in contrast had been three under par at the turn but dropped three shots in succession from the 14th to end with a level par 72 and a share of 26th place and 13 spots adrift of McIlroy.
Uncharacteristically, Donald had to take ‘unplayable’ penalty drops at the 14th and 15th holes.
Sweden’s Peter Hanson produced an inward nine of 30 in an eight under par 64 to lead the 58-player field with Scotland’s Paul Lawrie second on seven under par and McIlroy just one behind.
McIlroy recorded just 26 putts including 10 one-putts while it was estimated the overall length of his back nine birdies amounted to 127-feet.
Little wonder the 22-year old confessed he was seeing the hole as a big a bucket.
“It’s not something I experience too often seeing the hole as big as a bucket but it was nice and hopefully I can keep that part of my game going over the next three days,” he said.
“I worked hard today to get my mindset right that I really tried not to let anything distract me from my thoughts.
“I still gave away a couple of shots but emotionally I was not trying to get attached to those.
“So it was great to play alongside Luke and while I won’t be playing alongside him tomorrow, I will just try to go out there again and try and get myself to the top of the leader board.
“I suppose you could say I landed a few big blows today in the overall context of the Race to Dubai but again, Luke is a great competitor and it seems he doesn’t let that much affect him.
“I’m sure he will come out firing and be trying to get himself up the leader board.
“And while compliments from Luke about me yesterday are maybe a little bit over the top, I’m just very happy with the way I played today and hopefully the adrenaline can keep going over these next three days.
“It would be nice to finish off the season in style.”
And with Wozinacki to attend only her second Tour event, McIlroy confessed the adrenaline will really be pumping by the close of play Friday.
“I don’t get nervous when she’s present though I could be a little bit excited by tee time tomorrow night.”
As it stands, McIlroy still has to capture the Dubai World Championship if he is to deny Donald the European No. 1 title.
And while Donald commences the second round tied in 26th place, and away from the discomfort of playing alongside McIlroy, the ball still remains squarely in the Englishman’s court.
“It’s always hard playing with Rory and it almost feels a bit like a match-play kind of scenario,” said Donald.
“But the goal is to concentrate on myself, and just try to do what I can do to win this tournament.
“I’ve got to kind of take care of my own business and the rest will take care of itself”.
