DUBAI — Sergio Garcia led as Tiger Woods' struggles continued at the Dubai Desert Classic Thursday.
Garcia shot a superb opening round of seven-under par 65 to top the leaderboard by one shot from Chile's Felipe Aguilar and South Africa's George Coetzee.
For Woods, 41, it was a day to forget as he slumped to a birdie-less five-over par 77.
The American world No. 666 was among the morning groups to tee off, and from his first hooked drive on the 10th hole, which led to a bogey, it was a relentless but futile search for the former world No. 1.
He made the turn at three-over par after hitting his third shot into the water on the par-5 18th.
Even though he seemed to be hitting the ball much better on his back nine (the front nine of the Majlis course), he missed four birdie chances and made two further bogeys.
The 14-time major winner shrugged: "Well, I didn't hit the ball very well.
"I left there probably about 16 putts short. I just couldn't get the speed of these things, and consequently, it added up to a pretty high number."
There were a couple of shots during the round where he walked gingerly after hitting, but Woods said he wasn't in any pain.
"I was just trying to hit shots and I wasn't doing a very good job," he added.
"At the end, I finally hit some good ones but damage had already been done. On top of that, I could have hung in there, I could have shot something near even par if I would have made some putts, but I made nothing."
Garcia, meanwhile, made the most of the calmer morning conditions as he took a one-shot lead when play was suspended due to bad light.
The Spaniard, who made an eagle three on the par-5 third hole, started from the 10th tee and was bogey-free for 16 holes before making one on the eighth.
"I've done very well I guess. Obviously, it was a nice way to start. A good, solid round. It was getting a little bit tasty there at the end, the last five, six holes.
"So it was nice to be able to get it in on a good score and see what happens. Tomorrow is supposed to be a tough day, so we'll see," said Garcia, who plans to marry his girlfriend Angela Akins this year.
Aguilar was bogey-free in his 66 with three birdies on each side of the golf course, while Coetzee started with a bogey before making seven birdies.
England's Ian Poulter was part of a four-man group at five-under par 67.
India's Dubai-based 17-year-old amateur Rayhan Thomas shot a four-under par 68 to share eighth with 2007 champion and European No1 Henrik Stenson of Sweden, 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell and two others.
Defending champion Danny Willett, who was playing with Woods, signed for one-under par 71.
Australian Ryan Fox had the best score of 68 among the afternoon groups, which were affected by windy conditions.
Trump’s golf club fined
A federal court in Florida Wednesday ordered a golf club owned by President Donald Trump to pay nearly $6 million to former members who sought reimbursement of their dues.
The group of about 65 former members of Trump National Jupiter golf Club had said they wanted to leave the club after Trump bought it from the Ritz-Carlton in 2012.
Rules normally would allow them to keep playing until new members were found. They were paying $18,000 a year in dues.
But the new management run by Trump changed the rules, refusing to return the deposits to the departing members and barring them from the club.
US District Judge Kenneth Marra of West Palm Beach ordered Trump’s club to pay them $4.8 million plus some $925,000 in interest, for a total of $5.7 million.
“By categorically denying class members all rights to club access because they remained on the resignation waiting list as of December 31, 2012, defendant revoked or cancelled their memberships, thus recalling their memberships,” Marra wrote.
“Because Defendant did not refund class members’ deposits by January 30, 2013, it committed a material breach of the membership agreement going to the essence of the contract, causing plaintiffs and the class members damages measured by the amounts of their refundable deposits plus accruing interest.” — Agencies
