Rafael Cabrera-Bello of Spain, Romain Wattel of France and Matthew Baldwin of England outplayed the big names in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and tied for the first-round lead with 5-under-par 67s at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
Cabrera-Bello, who has won twice on the European Tour, the last time at the 2012 Omega Dubai Desert Classic, birdied three of the final five holes.
“It’s the first round of the year for most of us,” said Cabrera-Bello, who carded a bogey on the first hole but was flawless the rest of the way. “I have not competed for the last five weeks, so even though I have been practicing and trying to recreate competition, it’s not quite the same, so I’m pretty pleased.
“I started good and I held my nerve and more than that, I played the game I know I can play. It is tough out there. You need to drive it good, otherwise the rough, it’s very, very thick, and it’s not easy to play out of. You need to be playing very good off the tee and the greens are rolling really good, so I think that you can make the putts.”
Paul McGinley of Ireland, the European captain for the Ryder Cup this year at Gleneagles Resort in Scotland, shot 68 and was in a seven-way tie for fourth.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Luke Donald of England played the best of the big names at 2-under-par 70 and were in a tie for 19th.
Phil Mickelson did not make a birdie, recording 17 pars and a bogey in a round of 73 to tie for 63rd, while Henrik Stenson of Sweden shot 74 to tie for 86th and Sergio Garcia of Spain was in a tie for 104th at 76.
