The first European Tour event to be contested in Turkey unfortunately didn’t get underway without a hitch, with round one of the Turkish Airlines Open delayed by three hours on Thursday morning. Those thunderstorms would ultimately prevent the majority of the 78-man field from completing their opening rounds, but soft conditions provided ideal scoring conditions for this elite group of players in the third stage of the inaugural Final Series.
However, it was Henrik Stenson who will perhaps be most content with his short day’s work. The Race to Dubai leader is €145,000 ahead of Graeme McDowell, who is not in the field this week. This situation provides the recent winner of the FedEx Cup with the opportunity to all-but secure his status as European Number One ahead of next week’s season finale in Dubai.
The Swede would complete just ten holes of his opening round, but five birdies and one bogey see him handily placed on four-under. After hitting an ideal drive on the 11th, play was suspended due to darkness. Perhaps that break came at the wrong time for Stenson, but he will sleep with the knowledge that his game is back to the heights he reached during the summer.
Playing alongside Stenson in the marquee pairing of this opening round; were Justin Rose and Tiger Woods. The leaderboard will state that Rose is at one-under through ten holes, but he will return to the 11th on Friday morning facing a lengthy fourth shot after finding trees with his tee shot on the par five.
It wasn’t exactly vintage Tiger during this opening round, as he struggled to even hit a fairway during his ten holes at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal. However, the world number one scrambled brilliantly at times, and his one-under score thus far is testament to his short-game and undoubted ability to squeeze the maximum out of his game.
Also getting the most out of their games, were Paul Casey, Darren Fichardt and Steve Webster who ended the day tied for the lead at seven-under. All three will return early on Friday morning to complete the final few holes of their opening round, Ricardo Gonzalez and Thorbjorn Olesen having completed their opening rounds at six-under.
Just 15 players completed the first round on Thursday, but it was Casey who perhaps impressed the most, as he continued his resurgence in form that saw him claim the Irish Open back in June. With various injury and personal problems afflicting him, Casey fell from being third in the world to the near wilderness of the game. However, his tenacity and talent has shone through as he has gradually fought his way back to the top.
This week could be another step in that journey, and he was pleased with how he played through his opening 14 holes of the tournament.
“I seem to play very well around Monty’s golf courses,” said Casey. “I won in Bahrain a couple of years ago and then Carton House this year. I do enjoy his golf courses. I have no idea why, but maybe the fact that you can be incredibly aggressive does bode well for me.
“I made a very aggressive start with eagle at the first hole and this is a golf course that seems to offer a lot of opportunities starting out. I probably aim for the stick probably too frequently, but you could get away with it today – if you have an opportunity to go at flag and a good yardage, you have to take it. It was foot flat to the floor today and just fire at the pins, take advantage of the soft conditions we've got and see what happens.
“The field is exceptionally strong and with the layout of the golf course, and the way it is set up, I fully expect somebody is going to get to maybe 20 plus under par this week.”
The weather forecast for Friday is decent, so low scoring will ultimately continue, with 69 players all separated by just seven shots at this very early stage. It will be a long day for many of the field tomorrow, but for the likes of Henrik Stenson, he has already set the standard that he shall be intending to replicate throughout the remainder of the week, as he seeks to become the first player to win the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai in the same season.