Thomas Pieters leads the rained delayed opening round of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at 5 under par with three holes remaining in his first circuit of the Majlis after fading light brought an end to proceedings on Thursday evening.
Torrential rain meant all tee times were delayed by six hours and five minutes on day one, with play finally getting under way at 13.15 local time.
Only the first wave of starters teed off – with the other half of the field having to wait until Friday – and just 12 players managed to complete their first rounds before the daylight ran out.
Belgian Pieters suffered the disappointment of missing the cut at last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as his title defence fell flat, but he bounced back brilliantly at the second Rolex Series event of the season at Emirates Golf Club, carding six birdies and a single bogey in his first 15 holes to get to five under par.
“I think it played fair,” said Pieters. “Obviously they guarded against some of the conditions, and they moved a few tees forward on holes like 12, where you normally are hitting long irons, and you’re hitting short wedges. If you found fairways and had ball-in-hand, it was definitely playable.”
England’s Daniel Gavins had sat alongside Pieters when the hooter sounded but opted to finish up at the 18th in near-darkness and surrendered a bogey to join the large group on four under.
Gavins and countrymen Oliver Wilson and Matthew Jordan signed for 68s to set the early clubhouse target, while last week’s winner Victor Perez, Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Reed were also on four under with a few holes remaining.
“I feel pretty good. Struggled quite a lot off the tee today which is a bit frustrating, but my putting kind of held me,” said Gavins. “I holed quite a lot of nice putts to keep me going. Disappointed with the tee shots but I’ll sort that.
“The course was pretty good. It was dry for the most part. I went into one of the water hazards on the 10th which was not meant to be there but apart from that, there’s a few places where it didn’t really come into play, but yeah, it’s pretty dry.
“Last week, I was feeling it was a bit of a waste kind of missing the cut but if you think it’s just the start of the year, I’ve got another 30-odd events if I want them, so I’m not trying to think, yeah, it’s massive points. I’m just trying to play week-in, week-out and see where we are.”
Nicolas Colsaerts, Ryan Fox, Fabrizio Zanotti and Matt Wallace were another shot back and will also complete the first round on Friday morning.
Play will restart at 08.00 local time on Friday, while the second wave will start their first rounds from 08.20.
