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Martin Kaymer leads PGA Europe's Abu Dhabi Championship

 
Published Jan. 16, 2015

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Martin Kaymer rekindled his fondness for the Abu Dhabi Championship by rolling in 10 birdies to shoot 8-under 64 in the first round Thursday, giving the German a one-stroke lead in an event he has won three times.

Living up to his tag of the "King of Abu Dhabi," Kaymer showed the form on the greens that brought him titles in the desert in 2008, '10 and '11, and looked energized after time away from golf over Christmas.

"I putted very well," Kaymer said. "Ten birdies? I'm not sure I have done that in my golf career."

Top-ranked Rory McIlroy and American Rickie Fowler were also playing their first tournament of the year, and they fed off each other's stellar putting on their back nines to shoot 67s.

McIlroy's round was revived by a superb, improvised wedge shot from the lip of a fairway bunker on his 12th hole, setting up the first of five birdies in his last seven holes.

"I was just trying to get it on the green," McIlroy said about his 95-yard shot from an awkward stance that revived memories of the late Seve Balle­steros. "From looking like going 1 over to finishing 5 under, I'm very happy."

Fowler, who lost out to the victorious McIlroy in the final rounds of the British Open and PGA Championship last year, upstaged his rival by making six birdies in 11 holes starting at No. 15 — his sixth hole. But he missed a 10-foot par putt on his last hole to slip back level with McIlroy.

Thomas Pieters shot 65 to sit in second place, with five players — Branden Grace, Gregory Bourdy, first-year tour player Tyrrell Hatton, Alexander Levy and Mikko Ilonen — tied for third at 66.

The friends McIlroy and Fowler — separated in age by six months — were grouped together and chatted away for much of the round. "I can't get rid of him," the 10th-ranked Fowler said with a smile after the round as he looked across to McIlroy in a joint interview just off the 18th hole.