adminSHANGHAI. — Justin Rose is the leader of the pack trying to chase down Rory McIlroy at the top of the Race to Dubai standings after an opening five-under par 67 in the BMW Masters golf tournament yesterday.
Spain’s Sergio Garcia leads the $7 million event in Shanghai after an eight-under first round of 64 but Danny Willett, just 74,213 points behind McIlroy at the penultimate event of the European Tour season, had a disappointing even-par 72.
“I played OK today,” said Rose, who is seeking a double on Chinese soil, having won in his last outing at the Hong Kong Open last month.
“I was only one-under through 11, though. I could see a lot of the other guys were going low today and I tried to urge myself to sort of get it to three or four-under for the round, and actually beat my own expectations and finished five-under.
“Very happy with how I played the last seven or eight holes, and it was a good day’s work in the end.”
McIlroy is sitting out the BMW Masters, leaving him in a precarious position atop the Race to Dubai standings as challengers close in behind him.
The world number three will return for next week’s season finale, the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, as he bids to be crowned Europe’s number one for the second year running. Willett carded a best-of-the-week 62 on Sunday to finish third in the WGC-HSBC Champions across Shanghai at Sheshan International Golf Club, but he could not reproduce that form yesterday. — AFP.
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