Luke Donald (England), captain of the Ryder Cup Europe team, showed off a drive in front of his predecessor, Henrik Stenson (Sweden).
Donald made 9 birdies and bogey in the first round of the Amu Dhabi HSBC Championship (total prize money of 9 million dollars), the first tournament of the DP World Tour Rolex Series held at Links Yas (par 72) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the 20th (Korean time). He tied one and recorded an 8-under-par 64, leading alone.
The driving ability shined. He got off to a good start with a birdie from the 10th hole (par 4) in the first half, and recorded consecutive birdies on the 13th hole (par 3), followed by the 16th and 17th holes, reducing 4 strokes in the first half alone. In the 17th hole (par 3), he made a 9m birdie putt.
In the second and third holes in the second half, Donald, who exchanged bogeys with a birdie, displayed a ‘last-minute spurt’. From holes 6 to 9 in the second half, he made four consecutive birdies and quickly rose to the lead. 헤라카지노
He performed well in front of the former Ryder Cup European team captain. Stenson, the former general manager, returned to the DP World Tour after about half a year and participated in this tournament. Stenson was originally slated to lead the European team at this year’s Ryder Cup, but was fired as general manager to join LIV Golf, and Donald took over.
Stenson cut out one eagle and four birdies, but committed two bogeys and tied for 12th place with a 4-under-par 68. Stenson, who recorded his first birdie on the 4th hole (par 3), made a bogey on the 6th hole (par 4), but caught an eagle on the 7th hole (par 5) and a birdie on the 8th hole (par 3). He had a bogey on the 9th hole (par 4), but he did not lose the atmosphere by catching consecutive birdies on the 10th and 11th holes in the second half. However, after that, he could not raise the rankings as he could not reduce the number of strokes.
LIV Golf member Lee Westwood (England) tied for 23rd with a 3 under par 69, and Patrick Reed (USA) tied for 65th with an even par.
Australian Lee Min-woo tied with Stenson for 12th place with a 4 under par 68, and Wang Jeong-hoon (28), the only Korean player to participate, tied for 106th with a 3 over par 75.
The second round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the first round of the ‘Rolex Series’, a major DP World Tour tournament held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, will be held on the 20th at 5:30 pm at SPOTV Golf & Health and OTT service Spotv Now ( It will be broadcast live for free on SPOTV NOW).