A dramatic first day at the Dubai World Championship saw Rory McIlroy resurrect his Race to Dubai challenge on the back nine, but can the Northern Irishman pip world number one Luke Donald to the prize?
As Donald and McIlroy made the turn, the Englishman, who only needs to finish in the top-nine here to win the Race to Dubai, even if Rory wins this event, led the Irishman by fully three shots and it looked highly likely that it was all going to turn into a bit of a damp squib, but it all changed on the back-nine...
Donald was wayward off the tee and he dribbled away the three shots that he'd picked up on the front-nine to end the day on level par and in a tie for 26th. In stark contrast, Rory went bananas, birdying five of the last six holes to shoot 66 and he now sits in third place on -6 - two behind early pace-setter Peter Hanson and one behind Paul Lawrie, and it's very much, game on.
Luke's already been matched at as low as 1.02 (
Betfair) in the R2D market but he looks in a precarious position all of a sudden. He needs to get back-on-track tomorrow because Rory might take some stopping. Luke may well need to finish in the top-nine at this rate.
Rory's now market leader for this event at 3.4 and it's no surprise. He played imperious golf on the back-nine on a course that clearly suits his eye, and length for that matter. He'll take some stopping if he can keep up the momentum but I'm not convinced he will. I can't believe the pressure won't get to him at some point.
Given this is only the third staging of this event, we obviously haven't got too much form to go on but I do think the fact that the first two winners, Lee Westwood and Robert Karlsson were laying second and first respectfully after day one is significant. Although dangerous holes can wreck cards in a heartbeat, low scoring is more than possible here and making up ground may not be easy.
The more astute will have noticed that until now, I've not mentioned my pre-event selections and there's a reason for that. So far, baring Alvaro Quiros who shot -4, they've been largely poor.
My big hope for the week, Louis Oosthuizen, who I described as the best value play of the week, started brilliantly and he was three under par after just five holes. He finished on level par and that was thanks to a birdie on the last!
Paul Casey needed two birdies in the last four holes to match Louis and Ian Poulter shot +1. James Morrison struggled all day and shot +3 and Freddie Andersson-Hed managed to bogey the last four holes to match him!
I'm smarting a bit, I really fancied Louis, Casey and Poults this week. Quiros' score could and perhaps should have been better but he bogeyed two of the last three holes. I'm not going to worry about that though, he's always going to make errors wherever he plays and as I've already stated, there are some dangerous holes around here.
Having staked more than enough from the off I don't want to start throwing good money after bad but I quite like the look of Sergio Garcia from here and I might just play him tomorrow.
It's hard to imagine Lawrie being a factor at the death and I don't like Hanson much either - as highlighted in Monday's De-brief. Rory's chance is obvious but nerves aplenty will need to be overcome and Garcia may well be the more relaxed member of their two-ball tomorrow.
I'm not going to back him just yet, instead I'm going to wait and see if there are any early moves from the pack first. If the likes of Donald, Lee Westwood or even Casey surge up the leaderboard Sergio should lengthen. If they don't I'll probably try and back him before the price goes.
That's the plan for now but I could change my mind by tomorrow!
