Five-time Major winning Phil Mickelson struggled to recall the last occasion he shot a round that did not include a birdie in posting a 73 on day one of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Mickelson recorded 17 straight pars before ending his first round of the New Year with a bogey to be trailing six strokes behind the leading trio of England’s Matthew Baldwin, Frenchman Romain Wattel and Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
Both Baldwin and Wattel are looking for their Tour success whereas Cabrera-Bello is no stranger to success on the Tour’s three-event ‘Desert Swing’ having captured the 2012 Dubai Desert Classic.
Phil Mickelson on route to 17 pars and a last hole bogey on day one of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
There are seven players, including European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley, next best with four under par 68s.
Mickelson is competing in Abu Dhabi for a second time in his career and after finishing T37th on debut in 2011.
“I can’t recall the last time I had a round without a birdie,” he said.
“You know, this first round, I was a little tentative, played a little cautious, didn’t trust my swing too much.
“I haven’t been out in competition for a while but then it was good to get my feet wet there. Yes, I didn’t make a birdie, unfortunately, but didn’t make a bogey there till the last.”
Mickelson’s round rekindled memories of fellow Muirfield British Open winner Nick Faldo who captured the 1992 championship on the east of Edinburgh course with 18 pars over final day.
The World No. 5 ranked Mickelson arrived in UAE capital excited ‘with the best driver I’ve ever hit’ and suggesting 2014 could be the best year of his career for that very reason.
However the visiting American struggled to find just five of 14 fairways on the Peter Harradine designed course.
Mickelson is contesting the opening two rounds in the company of double Major winning Rory McIlroy who shot an encouraging two under par 60.
Bizarrely it was 12 months ago McIlroy could also only manage to hit five fairways of the National course just two days after announcing a reputed $US 225m deal with sports equipment giant, Nike.
However McIlroy left his new sponsor as crimson-face as his then new driver in shooting pair of 75s to easily miss the cut.
In contrast , McIlroy was very upbeat following his start to 2014 and exhibiting the superb 2013 end-of-season form that earned him victory in last month’s Australian Open in Sydney.
“I feel the benefit of ending last year well and then starting off this year with a lot of hard work it’s sort of showed off,” said McIlroy.
“Today was my first competitive round since the start of December, and I drove the ball as well as I have done in a long time.”
Triple winning past Abu Dhabi champion, Martin Kaymer was left counting the cost of a 14th hole double bogey in a similar score to McIlroy’s.
And South African Justin Walters was disqualified in signing for an incorrect score after taking a ‘5’ at his very first hole but signed for a ‘4’.
