Rose leads McIlroy – chasers as Garcia tops BMW Masters

Quartet lead World Classic in Singapore

Justin Rose of England plays a shot during the BMW Shanghai Masters golf tournament at the Lake Malaren Golf Club in Shanghai on Nov 12. (AFP)

SHANGHAI, Nov 12, (AFP): 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 on Thursday.

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 fourunder for the round, and actually beat my own expectations and finished fiveunder.

“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 WGCHSBC Champions across Shanghai at Sheshan International Golf Club, but he couldn’t reproduce that form Thursday.

“It was a strange one last week, the game’s not felt great,” said the English world number 22 who needs to finish 28th or better this week to overtake McIlroy but lies tied 48th after the first round.

“Just couldn’t quite get things going today. Drove it well. Didn’t hit it close enough to make anything. Just a very stale day.”

World number 11 Garcia carded nine birdies and a single bogey on his debut at Lake Malaren to lead by one stroke from South Korea’s An Byeong-Hun and France’s Victor Dubuisson, who is in fine form after winning the Turkish Airlines Open a fortnight ago.

“Conditions were quite good, not much wind,” said Garcia. “A little bit of a drizzle but other than that it was good. I drove the ball very well and that gave me a lot of opportunities to hit some good iron shots.”

Apart from Rose and Willett, none of the other three players who can knock McIlroy off his perch with a win this week made a significant move on a windless day with greens softened by rain that made for good scoring conditions, with 38 of the 78-man field breaking par.

Shane Lowry of Ireland, third in the Race to Dubai, had a two-under 70 for a share of 24th place as did South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen who is fourth in the standings. Each of them need to finish second at least to overtake McIlroy.

Oosthuizen’s fellow South African

Marcel Siem of Germany plays a shot during the BMW Shanghai Masters golf

tournament at the Lake Malaren Golf Club in Shanghai on Nov 12. (AFP)

Branden Grace, who is sixth and needs a win this week to move ahead of McIlroy, was one shot worse on 71.

Tied for fourth on six-under were Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard, runner-up to Rose in Hong Kong, and England’s Ross Fisher who lost here in a playoff last year to Germany’s Marcel Siem.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Sam Brazel and three other players shot a two underpar 69 to share the lead in the inaugural World Classic Championship in Singapore on Thursday before fading light suspended the first round of play.

Play at the par-71 Laguna National Golf and Country Club will resume Friday morning for 21 players who have not completed the first 18 holes.

Brazel went ahead after the first nine holes, but three bogeys in the second nine, including a double on the tricky 17th, whittled down his lead.

His dip allowed South Korea’s Wang Jeung-Hun and Thailand’s Natipong Srithong to level scores after the morning session. Another Australian, Scott Barr, joined the trio at the top just before play was suspended late afternoon.

“The greens are pretty tricky and you got to be smart,” said Brazel.

“I got away with a few and played nicely on other holes. It is not so much of a test off the tee but your second shot is definitely crucial. Putting is quite difficult as there’s always a danger of hitting it to the wrong post.”

Wang set out to make par at the Laguna National, the 17th stop of the Asian Tour, and said his four birdies on the first, eighth, 12th and 18th holes were a bonus.

“This is definitely one of the toughest courses in Asia and you really have to be very focused,” said Wang.

“When you make a mistake, you got to recover fast as the greens are hard to read.”

White, coach of French club Montpellier who previously led the Springboks to a World Cup triumph in 2007, is the favourite with British bookmakers.

“It’s one of the sought-after jobs in world rugby. A sleeping giant as England are, they’ve got all the resources, the history, the tradition,” he told Sky Sports.

“I’ve said before, if the RFU were genuine about picking a foreign coach and considered me the right man for the job, it would be naive of me to tell you I wasn’t interested.”

The 52-year-old White was twice contacted by the RFU when they were searching for previous England coaches, only to lose out to Lancaster and Martin Johnson.

Jones, world rugby’s flavour of the month following the giant-killing exploits of his Japan team at the World Cup, took up his new job at South African Super Rugby team, the Stormers, on Tuesday, only to find himself asked about the England job.

“There has been no contact and I am committed to the Stormers. I woke up this morning and looked at Table Mountain ... I’m very happy to be here,” said Jones who led Australia to the 2003 World Cup final.

Other names in the frame include Michael Cheika, who led Australia to the World Cup final, and Joe Schmidt, the New Zealander whose stewardship of Ireland has long impressed English officials.

Clive Woodward, who led England to World Cup glory in 2003, used his column in the Daily Mail newspaper to suggest it was “a real shame” some of the best coaches in the Premiership like Northampton’s Jim Mallinder and Exeter’s Rob Baxter would not be considered.

“A big name is not necessarily the right name,” Woodward wrote. “There are some great English rugby brains out there too, the likes of (World Cup winners) Lawrence Dallaglio, Ben Kay, Will Greenwood and

A picture taken on Oct 3, 2015 shows England’s head coach Stuart Lancaster walking on the pitch prior to a Pool A match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup between England and Australia at Twickenham Stadium,

south-west London. (AFP)

Matt Dawson, and we need to involve them.

“Let’s see if there is an English way forward first before we bolt for an overseas coach.”

Former World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward has criticised the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) treatment of Stuart Lancaster, saying the governing body was wrong to shoulder him with the blame for England’s miserable World Cup.

Lancaster, who signed a six-year deal last year, resigned on Wednesday, following an RFU review into why England failed to reach the tournament’s knockout phase.

RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie has announced his intention to replace Lancaster with “proven international experience” but Woodward, who led England to World Cup glory in 2003, said the administrator should also be held accountable for the debacle.

“It is so wrong that Lancaster alone seems to have been held responsible for England’s failure,” Woodward wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.

“Those responsible for his appointment, and who have backed him and been happy to reap praise in the good times, should be looking in the mirror today and feeling very uncomfortable over what has happened.

“Instead, Ian Ritchie, the man who appointed Lancaster as head coach and offered the coaches six-year extensions just a year ago, has led the panel to review their performance before recommending to the board that Lancaster step down and he be the man to find the next England coach.

“That man will then report to Ritchie. What business would operate this way?

Woodward, who said he was not interested in returning as England coach, also criticised Ritchie’s comments on what he would look for in Lancaster’s replacement.