Henrik Stenson carded an 8-under 64 on Thursday in Round 1 of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. It was Stenson's lowest opening round in 12 appearances at this event. He leads by two after the first day over Martin Kaymer, Oliver Fisher, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Marc Warren.
Stenson's round included 10 pars, eight birdies and no bogeys. It was flawless. It included this sublime shot on the par-5 18th hole coming home. An easy birdie.
"It must be the lack of practice that does it," he said. "Lack of sleep, lack of practice. I'm delighted with that score. I think I scored a bit better than what I played but I kept it under control somewhat and hit a couple of close iron shots and made the putts. It wasn't too much stress out there. I kept it tidy. Chipped in once when I missed the green and a couple up-and-downs, and so not too much stress, and very good start to the year.
"It wasn't a whole lot [of practice]," Stenson explained when prodded about his lead-in to the first event on his 2017 calendar. "I was working on my putting and some short game. Very limited preparation. That might be the way forward."
Stenson will do his best to hold off some big guns that aren't too far back. In addition to the four golfers directly behind him, he'll have to ward off Rafael Cabrera-Bello (5 under), Lee Westwood (4 under) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (3 under). Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler disappointed a bit by shooting even-par 72s.
Stenson has never won at this event, though he does hold the course record of 62. Kaymer is the one to keep an eye on here. He has won it three times (2008, 2010 and 2011).