McDowell leads by two in Shanghai
Graeme McDowell hit a superb outward nine on his way to a two-shot lead at the WGC- HSBC Champions in Shanghai on Thursday.
McDowell was seven under through 12 holes at Sheshan International but then dropped two shots in his final six to record an opening 67 and go five under in the second event of the European Tour’s Final
Starting from the 10th, McDowell birdied his first hole and repeated the trick on 13, 14, 16 and 17 to reach the turn in 31.
Birdies on the second and third then moved him well clear but McDowell dropped his first shot of the day on the fourth before dropping another when he missed the fairway on the 603-yard par-five eighth.
“Obviously the course played fairly difficult today,” said McDowell. “The wind direction had switched completely from practice, some of the game plan had switched a little bit and some of the holes were playing pretty long.
“A big key to this golf course is driving the ball well and I drove it very well today. I think I missed only one fairway, which is very important.
“The greens are in fantastic shape and I actually putted very well.
“Seven under par through 12 holes was a beautiful start, and you although I dropped a couple coming in, all in all I’m very, very pleased with five under par on what I thought was a reasonably tricky day.
“This is as tough off the tee as I think I’ve ever seen this golf course.
“Obviously it was very low scoring here last year. The rough was fairly thick last year, but it played so much softer and effectively, the fairways played wider and the greens were so much more receptive.
“This year it’s very tricky if you miss fairways. The rough is very penal and very tricky if you miss the greens. The run off areas are pretty severe here and the rough is pretty severe around the greens.
“It’s a much, much trickier test this year, and I think this golf course has really gone from strength to strength. Every year we’ve come back, it’s quietly maybe one of the best golf courses we play in the WGC rotation, if not the best.”
McDowell leads a group of six two shots back made up of Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker, Chris Kirk, Tommy Fleetwood, Tim Clark and Martin Kaymer, who all shot 69.
Henrik Stenson looked set to join that group but twice found sand on his final hole at the ninth and almost thinned his third shot across the green and into the water.
The resulting bogey left Stenson alongside Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter on two under, with world No.2 Adam Scott also hitting an opening 70.
WGC – HSBC Champions leaderboard
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