Nick Watney of the US stole Tiger Woods’ thunder at the WGC-HSBC Champions yesterday as he raced to a two-shot lead, but the world No. 1 is lurking dangerously three off the pace.
Watney, who qualified for the US$7 million event by winning February’s Buick Invitational on the USPGA Tour, stormed out of the blocks with back-to-back birdies and never looked back.
He ended with an eight-under 64 to tie the course record and it could have been better if not for a bogey on the last.
Fellow American Ryan Moore, Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Northern Ireland’s Shane Lowry are in a share of second after firing 66s. A group of four are one further back on five-under, including Paul Casey, Anthony Kim and Lin Wen-tang, with the Taiwanese star the best-placed player from the Asian Tour.
They sit alongside Woods, who has made clear he wants to win this week after finishing second in 2005 and 2006.
“I was putting well and just tried to give myself as many chances as possible, and I was able to make a few,” said the California-based Watney, who has two PGA Tour titles to his name.
This year the tournament has been upgraded to a World Golf Championship event this year and the size of the galleries reflected the surging interest, with more people on the course yesterday than over the whole weekend last year.
Most of the attention was on Woods, with at least 1,000 spectators following him around the par-72 Sheshan Golf Course on a sun-drenched day, with the cameras clicking despite appeals for fans not to take pictures.
The US superstar, who has won an unprecedented 16 of the 30 WGC events he has entered, started on the 10th and went to the turn at two-under with birdies at the 14th and 16th.
Four more birdies on the back nine pushed him up the leaderboard, although a bogey on the sixth (his 15th hole) blotted his scorecard.
His long-time rival Phil Mickelson, the 2007 champion, had a solid day to be two behind Woods.
Among European Tour players, money leader Lee Westwood stroked a 70, while Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy struggled to a 73.
It was a disastrous day for defending champion Sergio Garcia, with the Spaniard out-of-sorts to be 11 behind Watney.
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