Donaldson tames wind, thin fairways

Jamie Donaldson of Wales tees off on the 15th hole in front of a poster of a castle during Thursday’s ÿrst round of the European PGA Abu Dhabi Championship. Donaldson and Justin Rose are tied at 5-under-par 67 heading into today’s second round in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Jamie Donaldson of Wales tees off on the 15th hole in front of a poster of a castle during Thursday’s ÿrst round of the European PGA Abu Dhabi Championship. Donaldson and Justin Rose are tied at 5-under-par 67 heading into today’s second round in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

— With Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods struggling, unheralded Jamie Donaldson took the spotlight at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship on Thursday, shooting an opening-round 5-under-par 67 for an early one-shot lead.

McIlroy, playing with new clubs following his multimillion dollar sponsorship deal with Nike, finished with a 3-over 75 and risks missing the cut. He repeatedly missed fairways including a shot on his 12th that hit a tree and ended up in a parking lot, leading to one of his two double bogeys. His other double bogey came when he muffed a chip in thick rough on his par-3 sixth. He also putted poorly, missing a par putt on his 17th and a birdie putt on the 18th.

Mclroy insisted his difficulties had more to do with rusty strokes than the new equipment. While he repeatedly slumped after a bad shot or frowned following a missed putt, the 2012 European Tour and U.S. PGA Tour money winner seemed resigned to the fact that it would take time for him to adjust to the new Nike clubs.

“When you go out and you’ve got new stuff, you are going to be a little anxious and hopefully you play well,” McIlroy said. “But I guess I can learn from it and move on and go into tomorrow and try and play a bit better. It’s about playing yourself into the weekend.”

Woods, meanwhile, finished a roller coaster round at even par after “grinding it out.” The 14-time major winner had four birdies to go along with four bogeys and ended his round by threeputting his 18th for a bogey when he hit the second putt too hard.

“I’m still right there,” said Woods, who was five shots behind Donaldson. “You know, if I two-putt that last hole I’m in I think 12th or 13th or something like that. There’s not a lot of guys going low out there. These fairways are tiny to begin with, but there are a lot of crosswinds.”

Woods can thank his short game and putter for salvaging the round, saving par on several occasions and sinking several long birdie putts. He made three birdies on the last four holes of his front nine. But he lost that momentum on the back nine, when he hit a tee shot poorly that led to a bogey on 10, and couldn’t hole a short par putt on his 11th.

“I put something up there and lost it,” Woods said of his bogeys on the back. “I had another chance at 3 to make another bogey in row and made a good save there. That kind of got it going a little bit. But it was tough out there. I didn’t hit it that well. On top of that, this wind just magnifies it. You really have to control your ball today.”

It was left to the 47thranked Donaldson to show how to overcome the wind and master the narrow fairways. He had six birdies — including holing a bunker shot on his 12th — to go along with a bogey. The Welshman is one shot clear of Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark and Pablo Larrazabal of Spain. Three others including Henrik Stenson of Sweden are a further shot back in fourth.

“Solid start, played some pretty good golf out there,” said Donaldson, who was looking for his second European Tour victory. “Obviously 5 under is a great start. I played pretty good in most of the round but there were times when it wasn’t quite on, we made some good up and downs. It was a matter of scoring well and keeping the momentum going.”

PGA TOUR

Three share lead

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Phil Mickelson opened his season with an erratic even-par 72 Thursday in the Humana Challenge, leaving him nine strokes behind the first-round leaders.

Recovering from flulike symptoms, the 42-year-old Mickelson had three birdies, a bogey and double bogey at La Quinta Country Club — one of three courses used in the pro-am event.

Jason Kokrak, Roberto Castro and James Hahn topped the leaderboard at 9-under 63. Kokrak had two eagles and five birdies at La Quinta, Castro had nine birdies at PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Private Course, and Hahn had nine birdies on PGA West’s Arnold Palmer Private Course.

Russell Henley, the Sony Open winner Sunday in Hawaii in his first start as a PGA Tour member, had a 64 on the Nicklaus course.

Bryce Molder (Conway) is tied for 17th place after a 6-under 66. Molder was good for seven birdies, including ones on the final three holes. He also had one bogey.

Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks) is tied for 29th with a 5-under 67. Ridings’ round included seven birdies and two bogeys.

David Lingmerth (Razorbacks) shot a 4-under 68 and is tied for 48th. His round included five birdies and a bogey.

Scott Gardiner (Farmington) posted a 2-under 70 and is tied for 90th place. His round included an eagle, four birdies and four bogeys.

Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) was at 72, with a round including three birdies and three bogeys.

Leaderboard

EUROPEAN PGA

Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

At Abu Dhabi Golf Club Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Purse: $2.7 million Par 72, 7,605 yards First of four rounds

Jamie Donaldson .................33-34—67 Justin Rose ..........................32-35—67 Olesen Thorbjorn .................34-34—68 Pablo Larrazabal ..................36-32—68 Wen-Chong Liang ................33-36—69 George Coetzee ....................36-33—69 Henrik Stenson ....................36-33—69 Michael Campbell ................33-36—69 David Howell ........................36-33—69

PGA

Humana Challenge

La Quinta, Calif. Purse: $5.6 million p-PGA West, Arnold Palmer Private Course (Par 72, 6,950 yards) n-PGA West, Jack Nicklaus Private Course (Par 72, 6,951 yards) q-La Quinta Country Club (Par 72, 7,060 yards) First of four rounds

Roberto Castro ...................32-31q—63 Jason Kokrak .....................32-31p—63 James Hahn .......................30-33n—63

Arkansans

Bryce Molder ......................34-32n—66 Tag Ridings ........................33-34q—67 David Lingmerth ................32-36p—68 Scott Gardiner ....................37-33p—70 Ken Duke ............................36-36p—72

— Complete scores, Page 3C

Sports, Pages 25 on 01/18/2013

Upcoming Events