Golf

2014 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship: Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson open their season

The biggest stars in golf not named Tiger Woods open their year with a two rather uneventful rounds in Abu Dhabi.

Jan 16, 2014, 3:04 PM UTC

Matthew Lewis

The first competitive round in 2014 for Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy is in the books after Thursday’s opening 18 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Rory continued his late form from 2013, getting in the red with a 2-under round of 70, while Phil finished six shots off the pace at 1-over.

McIlroy’s opening round is good enough to place him inside the top 20, and is an encouraging start to a new year that has to be better than 2013. More impassive than the final-round number under par is that McIlroy did not make a bogey all day. It was these crooked numbers, and bogey streaks, that often sent tournaments off the rails last year. He steadily made his way through the Abu Dhabi GC layout in rather uneventful fashion, adding birdies at two par-5s to compliment his 16 pars.

Joining McIlroy at 2-under are fellow Euro Ryder Cuppers Martin Kaymer, Peter Hanson, and Luke Donald. This event is probably deeper at the top than the competing PGA Tour tilt in Palm Springs, so obviously the Euro Tour folks have to be pleased with players like Rory, Donald, and Kaymer in the mix. They’re all still three shots back of the trio leading at 5-under -- Romain Wattel, Matthew Baldwin, and Rafael Cabrera-Bello.

While you could characterize Rory’s round as uneventful, Mickelson’s loop was just straight boring. Phil did not make a birdie all day, and made bogey on the final green to get in with the 1-over 73. That’s a very un-Phil round, so perhaps he’s saved all the red and crooked numbers for the second round, which he’ll play during the Golf Channel broadcast window early Friday morning.

Here are the results from Thursday’s first round on the Euro Tour:

Place	Player	Score	Round 1
T1	CABRERA-BELLO, Rafa	-5	67
T1	WATTEL, Romain	-5	67
T1	BALDWIN, Matthew*	-5	67
T4	LUITEN, Joost*	-4	68
T4	WARREN, Marc	-4	68
T4	VAN DER WALT, Dawie*	-4	68
T4	LIMA, José-Filipe	-4	68
T4	MCGINLEY, Paul	-4	68
T4	COETZEE, George	-4	68
T4	LEE, Craig*	-4	68
T11	SINGH, Jeev Milkha*	-3	69
T11	HATTON, Tyrrell	-3	69
T11	WEBSTER, Steve	-3	69
T11	ORMSBY, Wade	-3	69
T11	LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo*	-3	69
T11	SIEM, Marcel	-3	69
T11	HOEY, Michael	-3	69
T11	FISHER, Oliver	-3	69
T19	KAYMER, Martin*	-2	70
T19	MCILROY, Rory*	-2	70
T19	AIKEN, Thomas	-2	70
T19	GALLACHER, Stephen*	-2	70
T19	SANTOS, Ricardo	-2	70
T19	MCGRANE, Damien	-2	70
T19	OTTO, Hennie	-2	70
T19	MOLINARI, Edoardo*	-2	70
T19	HANSON, Peter	-2	70
T19	BJÖRN, Thomas	-2	70
T19	DONALD, Luke	-2	70
T19	JEONG, Jin*	-2	70
T19	DE LA RIVA, Eduardo*	-2	70
T19	FICHARDT, Darren*	-2	70
T19	JAIDEE, Thongchai	-2	70
T19	PEPPERELL, Eddie	-2	70
T35	WOOD, Chris*	-1	71
T35	MANASSERO, Matteo*	-1	71
T35	DINWIDDIE, Robert	-1	71
T35	HARRINGTON, Padraig*	-1	71
T35	QUESNE, Julien	-1	71
T35	KIEFFER, Maximilian*	-1	71
T35	KAPUR, Shiv	-1	71
T35	CARLSSON, Magnus A	-1	71
T35	THORNTON, Simon*	-1	71
T35	JACQUELIN, Raphaël*	-1	71
T35	QUIROS, Alvaro	-1	71
T35	FASTH, Niclas*	-1	71
T35	CAÑIZARES, Alejandro*	-1	71
T35	STONE, Brandon*	-1	71
T35	BLAND, Richard*	-1	71
T35	GONZALEZ, Ricardo*	-1	71
T35	LEWIS, Tom*	-1	71
T52	FRASER, Marcus*	Even	72
T52	HAVRET, Grégory	Even	72
T52	ROCK, Robert*	Even	72
T52	FOSTER, Mark*	Even	72
T52	GRILLO, Emiliano*	Even	72
T52	SADDIER, Adrien*	Even	72
T52	PHELAN, Kevin*	Even	72
T52	CAMPILLO, Jorge*	Even	72
T52	CASEY, Paul	Even	72
T52	ELVIRA, Nacho*	Even	72
T52	BHULLAR, Gaganjeet*	Even	72
T63	ZANOTTI, Fabrizio	1	73
T63	MICKELSON, Phil*	1	73
T63	DONALDSON, Jamie*	1	73
T63	BENSON, Seve	1	73
T63	GRACE, Branden*	1	73
T63	SULLIVAN, Andy	1	73
T63	DYSON, Simon*	1	73
T63	FLEETWOOD, Tommy	1	73
T63	LAWRIE, Peter*	1	73
T63	JIMÉNEZ, Miguel Angel	1	73
T63	HOWELL, David*	1	73
T63	KARLSSON, Robert	1	73
T63	HORSEY, David*	1	73
T63	WIESBERGER, Bernd	1	73
T63	MONTGOMERIE, Colin	1	73
T63	KJELDSEN, Søren	1	73
T63	WILLETT, Danny*	1	73
T63	WARING, Paul*	1	73
T63	BROBERG, Kristoffer	1	73
T63	SLATTERY, Lee*	1	73
T63	MAYBIN, Gareth	1	73
T63	CARLSSON, Johan	1	73
T85	CRESPI, Marco	2	74
T85	LEVY, Alexander	2	74
T85	UIHLEIN, Peter*	2	74
T85	CLARKE, Darren*	2	74
T85	CALMELS, François	2	74
T85	FISHER, Ross*	2	74
T85	STORM, Graeme*	2	74
T85	OLESEN, Thorbjørn	2	74
T85	STENSON, Henrik	2	74
T85	ILONEN, Mikko*	2	74
T85	OLAZÁBAL, José María	2	74
T85	WHITEFORD, Peter*	2	74
T85	RIU, Victor	2	74
T85	STAL, Gary*	2	74
T99	DEL MORAL, Carlos	3	75
T99	RUMFORD, Brett*	3	75
T99	MADSEN, Morten Ørum*	3	75
T99	DOAK, Chris	3	75
T99	HUIZING, Daan	3	75
T104	GARCIA, Sergio*	4	76
T104	PARRY, John	4	76
T104	LOWRY, Shane*	4	76
T104	PIETERS, Thomas	4	76
T104	KRUGER, Jbe*	4	76
T104	HUANG, Wen-yi*	4	76
T104	WALL, Anthony*	4	76
T104	APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech	4	76
T104	GREEN, Richard	4	76
T113	OTAEGUI, Adrian	5	77
T113	MULROY, Garth	5	77
T113	HANSEN, JB	5	77
T113	KOEPKA, Brooks*	5	77
T113	PAVAN, Andrea	5	77
T118	HANSEN, Soren	6	78
T118	CAMPBELL, Michael	6	78
T118	MCLEARY, Jamie*	6	78
T118	KIM, Sihwan	6	78
122	NIXON, Matthew	7	79
123	LAWRIE, Paul	8	80
T124	ALMUSHARREKH, Ahmed*	10	82
T124	LEVET, Thomas*	10	82