Desert storm whips Dubai golf

DUBAI—Blustery conditions and cool temperatures hampered the pack chasing Tiger Woods in the second round of the 2.5-million-dollar Dubai Desert Classic on Friday.
The weather was in stark contrast to Thursday’s placid, blue skies and warm sunshine when over 50 players finished their first rounds under par on the Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club.
Instead, just matching par became a tough assignment and conditions were forecast to worsen during the course of the day.
Woods started the second round two strokes clear of the field after a commanding seven-under par 65 on Thursday and a repeat of his second round performance in his season-opener at the Buick Invitational in California last week could see him sprint away from the field.
On that occasion he shot a 65 to move from two strokes off the lead to four ahead at the halfway stage. He went on to win by a comfortable seven strokes - his fourth straight win dating back to the tail-end of last year.
Woods said that his opening round could have been even better. “I definitely missed a few today. I had a couple of good opportunties to make some putts and just kind of ran them over the edge. But overall I couldn’t have asked for a better start.”
The pack chasing to keep up with Woods bunched up into an 11-way tie for second place two strokes back with the two men seen as his main challengers - defending champion Henrik Stenson and three-times winner Ernie Els - a further stroke back with 12 others.
Stenson and Els were among those out early, both set on
keeping Woods in their sights. But they both dropped shots in the testing, early going as gusts of wind whipped up the desert sand and reduced visibility.
Playing together, they stuck manfully to their tasks with Stenson getting to six-under, one back off Woods, after a round of 70 and Els finishing two strokes further back.
With nearly all of the morning groupings having completed their second rounds, no-one had succeeded in totally closing the gap on Woods, Stenson coming the closest.
“It was really cold and windy this morning. It’s very rare to have strong winds like this,” the Dubai resident said.
“The wind dropped a little bit on the last couple of holes, but it’s still pretty tricky out there and we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens in the afternoon.”
Woods gave immediate hope to Stenson and the rest of the chasing pack by bogeying his first hole - his first dropped shot of the tournament. But he hit back two holes later with a birdie to maintain his outright lead.—Agencies