McDowell leads in Shanghai but rues poor finish
Graeme McDowell hit a superb outward nine on his way to a two-shot lead at the WGC- HSBC Champions event in Shanghai but he was left ruing a poor finish 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.
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
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
Feeds: ESPN staff
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
