All honours to England’s Andy Sullivan went within two holes of becoming only the second European Tour player to post a 59 in his round of a course record setting 11-under par 61 on day one of the inaugural Golf in Dubai Championship.
Sulliban lit-up the Sergio Garcia designed Fire course with 11 birdies, included six in succession from his sixth to 11th holes but then falling just shy of a sub-60 score with pars on his last two holes.
Sullivan said: “It’s funny, I played the front nine yesterday and I played the back nine a year ago when we came over to warm up, you do all this prep on these courses and try and work out where to hit it,” Sullivan said.
“This week I turned up and cluttered it down and found myself being ridiculous under par through seven or eight holes on my front nine. You think ‘here we go’.”
Marc Warren also turned up the heat to brilliantly snatch five late round birdies in succession to produce his lowest score in over two years,
Warren muscled his way to an eight-under par 64 and joined Peebles Craig Howie sharing fifth place on the Sergio Garcia designed ‘Fire Course’ at Jumeirah Estates.
Warren’s score is his best since a similar 64 on day two of the 2018 Portugal Masters and the Glaswegian could not have been happier.
He said: “It was really good out there today, especially after five weeks at home and not really playing much golf due to the weather.
“I was expecting a little bit of rust early on and parred the first then bogeyed the second and then it was plain sailing after that. I gave myself a lot of chances, felt I stayed patient on the front nine and then got the rewards with a really strong back nine.
“I had noticed Andy’s score before I went out and tried not to go chasing it because those rounds don’t come around too often. Eight-under-par is an ideal start for me and patience was the key.”
The reigning Austrian Open winner was one-over after two holes but then made the turn in two-under before planting the foot of the birdies pedal from the 12th hole and storming to seven-under ahead of a ninth birdie of his round at the uphill par-5 18th.
Howie was also two-under over his front half and then played his closing nine in six-under capped by an eagle ‘3’ at his 16th hole.
Top-ranked Scot Bob MacIntyre joined the birdie bonanza with nine birdies but also three bogeys in his six-under par 66 and tied in 12th place with Craigielaw’s Grant Forrest who also capped his day with an eagle ‘3’ at the 13th.
Forrest is the very first out on day two of the event.
And double Dubai Desert Classic winning Stephen Gallacher was three-under at the turn thanks to three closing outward nine-hole birdies but then par all his inward half holes.
Seven thousand miles to the south and Scott Jamieson tees-up in the South African Open seeking to draw on memories of three years ago when he was runner-up at Sun City to local hero Branden Grace at the Nedbank Challenge.
A repeat by the in-form Glaswegian would be good enough to see the 37-year heard north next week to Dubai for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
After a share of sixth last week in the Joburg Open, the 37-year-old Florida-based Scot is lying 66th on the Race to Dubai list and needing to finish second to be heading to Dubai.
He said: “I have so many good memories of my first time here in finishing second here so looking to draw on that this week.
“I’ve watched a bit on TV before that and it’s just a tough golf course If you are good to tee to green, you should have a good week
“These three events on the South African swing have been fun. I’ve played really well with two solid weeks and hopefully that form continues into this week.
“Trying to get into Dubai next week adds a bit of excitement to my process or whatever, so if I do my job well enough, then it’s off to Dubai.”
Jamieson is among six Scots in the Sun City field including Borders David Drysdale and Drumoig’s Connor Syme who each will be also looking to be joining Jamieson in Dubai.
Drysdale is lying 88th on the money list and Syme at 68th.
And Kirkcaldy’s Calum Hill can lock-in his Tour card for next year with a strong finish and currently lying 105th on the money list.
Rounding out the Scots is Aberdonian David Law and 24-year old Londoner Ryan Lumsden, 24, whose grandparents are Scottish-born.
END
