GOLF:GRAEME McDOWELL did not look like a man playing in his sixth consecutive event as he made the most of ideal company to surge into contention at the Chevron World Challenge.
The US Open champion fired a six-under-par 66 in the opening round of the elite event, ending an unseasonably warm day at Sherwood Country Club level with good friend Rory McIlroy.
“It was just perfect scoring conditions,” said McDowell after the pair finished one stroke behind pacesetting Tiger Woods, the tournament host, in the 18-strong field.
“The greens here are unbelievable. You just have to get the ball rolling, and if it’s on line it’s going in.”
Although McDowell suffered from jet-lag earlier this week after a hectic tournament run through Spain, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, he flourished after being paired with McIlroy.
“It was fun to play alongside Rory, one of my good mates,” he said after recording five birdies, one eagle and a lone bogey at the last. “He got off to a good start and I kind of fed off him a little bit. We birdied most holes out there between us.”
McIlroy birdied the first three holes and McDowell joined in with birdies of his own at the third, fifth, sixth and eighth.
By the time they had completed the back nine, the Irish duo were a collective 11-under for the day based on a best-ball format.
“We just kept making a lot of birdies,” said McDowell, who finished second here last year to ignite a 2010 season that featured three European Tour wins and a first major title.
Although Woods has struggled for form this year while coping with the break-up of his marriage, McDowell says the tournament leader is now close to his best.
“Obviously the host, he’s in good form. He’s been looking like he’s starting to play well the last couple months since the Ryder Cup, really,” he added.
“He looked ominously good, and it’s great to see him up there. He does great things for this tournament and we’ll be trying to catch him this weekend.”
Although he recorded his only bogey at the par-four last after pushing his tee shot behind a tree, Woods matched his lowest score of the year by recording a 65.
Asked if he was back to his best after struggling on and off the course since his private life unravelled Woods replied: “It’s a process. I was putting together streaks of holes – two, three, four, five holes of this – and then I’d lose it for a little bit. I needed to get to a full round and then eventually a full tournament. Today was a full round, so that’s a good start.”
Thousand Oaks, California, US unless stated):
65 T Woods. 66 R McIlroy (NIre), G McDowell (NIre). 69 D Johnson, S Cink. 70 L Donald (Eng), C Villegas (Col). 72 I Poulter (Eng), H Mahan, S O’Hair, S Stricker, J Furyk, N Watney. 73 P Casey (Eng). 75 M Kuchar, Z Johnson. 76 B Watson. 79 A Kim.
Due to earlier deadlines necessitated by the adverse weather conditions, we regret we are unable to carry details of second round play
