Day One Report
Scott Jamieson took a one-stroke overnight lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the opening Rolex Series event of the 2022 DP World Tour season, where Ryder Cup players Viktor Hovland and Thomas Pieters were in close pursuit.
Jamieson’s first and only victory came nine years ago at the Nelson Mandela Championship presented by ISPS HANDA, but the Scot has had some strong form at this event in his last three appearances – his worst finish since 2019 is tied 16th.
The 38-year-old registered a new course record at Yas Links – which hosts the event for the first time this week – as he carded a bogey-free nine under par 63 to move one shot clear of the field, some of whom were yet to finish their opening rounds when play was suspended due to darkness.
Hovland, who made his Ryder Cup debut last year and has already claimed three PGA TOUR titles since turning professional in 2019, signed for 64 to sit in second place outright, while Pieters was another shot further back in on seven under par.
Defending Champion Tyrrell Hatton and Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter were two of the five players in a share of fourth place before the klaxon was sounded. Round One will restart at 7:45am local time Friday morning.
Player Quotes
Scott Jamieson: “It was just really solid all day to be honest. It’s eight weeks off from tournament golf out here so you’re always a little bit on edge at the start of the day, but birdie at the first kind of settled any edge there was and it was just really solid all day and one tee shot wasn’t very good but I got lucky and recovered well.
“This is the first off-season I haven’t actually peeled the skin back and try to figure out how to get better. I felt like the game was in a good place finishing in Dubai and just missed out on a top ten there. I’ve been driving it a lot better the last few events of the year last year, so no, I was pretty comfortable where my game was. I just had to hope that it turned up again eight weeks later.
“You’re never too sure what game is going to turn up. Doing a bit of practising and playing at home the last couple of weeks, but it’s never the same when there’s a gun to your head and the pressure is on. Thankfully I’ve tended to always be able to handle it for the most part, so I’m delighted with that round.”
Viktor Hovland: “It was nice. I didn’t hit the best shots early on but you managed to get away with it and hit made a bunch of putts today, and that obviously helped get over the jet-lag.
“There are some tricky pins out there, and obviously the greens are very severe. I don’t know, this grass, I just feel really comfortable putting on the paspalum grass, and I read the greens perfectly. And just started on my line and this is a day where those putts go in, and I was able to take advantage of it.
“You can’t control what’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s easy to force a couple birdies here and there but you’ve got to be very disciplined because there’s some tricky pins and you get a little greedy and miss on the wrong sides, you just don’t have a shot. Even though it’s important to get a low one today, big thing was only making one bogey today. That was good.”
Thomas Pieters: “I didn’t miss a green, which is always nice because you don’t really know how your game, at least it’s first 18 holes I played since Dubai last year, so it’s quite nice to start like this.
“I thought the first 12 holes were relatively easy I would say and the last three or four holes were quite tricky, at least a 2 1/2 club wind but still manageable. The greens are big so you can bail out places but if you leave yourself some long putts like I did, it’s pretty tricky.
“We will be the guinea pigs (in the wind), if we are 4-over after four holes, maybe they can call it because it’s looking like a lot of wind, so I don’t know. If I can shoot something level par tomorrow, I think I’ll be fine.”
Tyrrell Hatton: “I’ve done a bit of work at start of this year but I definitely needed to, I didn’t touch a club for three weeks after the Bahamas which was lovely. Enjoyed playing Xbox and not doing much else but started this year going out to Orlando and getting back into the swing of things.
“I’m quite surprised how I scored today. It didn’t actually feel like I played that well. I think I was bogey-free as well. Yeah, it’s a good way to start.
“I just went out and tried to pick targets off the tee. I tried to score, that’s how I visualise it on each tee, just trying to score as many goals as I can. I don’t think I actually hit many fairways today but obviously got away with that.
“Hopefully I drive the ball a bit better tomorrow. We’re going to have pretty windy conditions and I think I’m going to have to play a bit better than I did today.”
