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Dubai - Sweden's Henrik Stenson and England's Gary Boyd started strongly in the Dubai World Championship, with both moving to 2-under as they made the turn in Thursday's opening round.
The duo were among the first 30 players to tee-off in sunny conditions at the European Tour's $7.5 million, season-ending tournament. Australia's Marcus Fraser of Australia had a chance to top the leaderboard after nine holes but a triple bogey on the ninth left him one shot behind.
The money-race leader Martin Kaymer will tee off later in the 60-player field with the task of holding off his playing partner and only rival for the Race to Dubai title, Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell.
McDowell can claim the title by winning the tournament or ending up alone in second as long as Kaymer finishes no higher than a tie for third. If McDowell is tied for second, Kaymer could afford to finish as low as sixth.
McDowell said Wednesday that he is playing some of his best golf coming into Dubai and welcomed the chance to go head-to-head with the more understated Kaymer.
"It's going to be fun to play alongside him on Thursday and look each other in the eye," McDowell said. "He's had an amazing season as well and it's going to be a lot of fun out there. Like I say, the adrenaline is going to be there from the word go so I'm looking forward to it."
McDowell felt he had momentum on his side after a lull in his game that followed his win at the US Open. He claimed the winning point in the Ryder Cup and has since won the Andalucia Masters and had a strong finish in last week's Hong Kong Open which allowed him to close the gap on Kaymer who did not play.
"I started off in a bit of a five-week run here with Martin nearly a million euros ahead of me and I wasn't quite sure I would be able to catch him," McDowell said. "But I wanted to get here with an opportunity to win The Race to Dubai if I played well and I've given myself that chance now."
McDowell is in a similar position to that of Westwood last year. The Englishman was trailing Rory McIlroy coming into the last tournament but shot a course-record 8-under 64 in the final round at the Earth Course to finish at 23-under 265 to win it and become Europe's No. 1 golfer.
McIlroy, who also is from Northern Ireland, said he thinks McDowell could do something similar this week.
"He's done fantastically well this season," McIlroy said. "He's on a roll where he is putting his name up there every week. That's something he's probably not managed to do over the past few seasons."
Still, McIlroy said McDowell is going to have to "do something special like Lee" did last year to catch Kaymer. He said it was unlikely Kaymer would finish outside the top five so McDowell "is going to have to finish in the top two if he's going to win."
The course, with its long fairways which McDowell has called a "grip-it-and-rip-it type of course," would seem to suit the big hitting Kaymer more than McDowell, who relies more on placement and finesse. But the world No. 9 said he is hitting longer than he was a year ago thanks to new, 46-and-a-half inch driver and the work he has done on his swing with his coach Pete Cowen.
"There is a big emphasis to driving the ball and I feel like I've upped my game from that point of view," he said. "So I like what I saw in the pro-am yesterday. I drove the ball well and the golf course didn't feel quite as much as a slog as it did a year ago."
Kaymer, who skipped the Hong Kong Open to rest ahead of Dubai, on Tuesday called this week "the biggest of my career so far" and said winning would complete three goals he set for himself - to win a major, win the Ryder Cup and become the No. 1 golfer in Europe.
The duo were among the first 30 players to tee-off in sunny conditions at the European Tour's $7.5 million, season-ending tournament. Australia's Marcus Fraser of Australia had a chance to top the leaderboard after nine holes but a triple bogey on the ninth left him one shot behind.
The money-race leader Martin Kaymer will tee off later in the 60-player field with the task of holding off his playing partner and only rival for the Race to Dubai title, Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell.
McDowell can claim the title by winning the tournament or ending up alone in second as long as Kaymer finishes no higher than a tie for third. If McDowell is tied for second, Kaymer could afford to finish as low as sixth.
McDowell said Wednesday that he is playing some of his best golf coming into Dubai and welcomed the chance to go head-to-head with the more understated Kaymer.
"It's going to be fun to play alongside him on Thursday and look each other in the eye," McDowell said. "He's had an amazing season as well and it's going to be a lot of fun out there. Like I say, the adrenaline is going to be there from the word go so I'm looking forward to it."
McDowell felt he had momentum on his side after a lull in his game that followed his win at the US Open. He claimed the winning point in the Ryder Cup and has since won the Andalucia Masters and had a strong finish in last week's Hong Kong Open which allowed him to close the gap on Kaymer who did not play.
"I started off in a bit of a five-week run here with Martin nearly a million euros ahead of me and I wasn't quite sure I would be able to catch him," McDowell said. "But I wanted to get here with an opportunity to win The Race to Dubai if I played well and I've given myself that chance now."
McDowell is in a similar position to that of Westwood last year. The Englishman was trailing Rory McIlroy coming into the last tournament but shot a course-record 8-under 64 in the final round at the Earth Course to finish at 23-under 265 to win it and become Europe's No. 1 golfer.
McIlroy, who also is from Northern Ireland, said he thinks McDowell could do something similar this week.
"He's done fantastically well this season," McIlroy said. "He's on a roll where he is putting his name up there every week. That's something he's probably not managed to do over the past few seasons."
Still, McIlroy said McDowell is going to have to "do something special like Lee" did last year to catch Kaymer. He said it was unlikely Kaymer would finish outside the top five so McDowell "is going to have to finish in the top two if he's going to win."
The course, with its long fairways which McDowell has called a "grip-it-and-rip-it type of course," would seem to suit the big hitting Kaymer more than McDowell, who relies more on placement and finesse. But the world No. 9 said he is hitting longer than he was a year ago thanks to new, 46-and-a-half inch driver and the work he has done on his swing with his coach Pete Cowen.
"There is a big emphasis to driving the ball and I feel like I've upped my game from that point of view," he said. "So I like what I saw in the pro-am yesterday. I drove the ball well and the golf course didn't feel quite as much as a slog as it did a year ago."
Kaymer, who skipped the Hong Kong Open to rest ahead of Dubai, on Tuesday called this week "the biggest of my career so far" and said winning would complete three goals he set for himself - to win a major, win the Ryder Cup and become the No. 1 golfer in Europe.
