Dubai, Mar 07: It was business as usual for the hottest player in the game on Thursday (March 6) as Ernie Els fired a six-under-par 66 to lie one shot off the early lead in the Dubai Desert Classic`s opening round. The defending champion and world number two, chasing his fifth title of the year, got off to a fast start, reeling off five birdies in an outward nine of 32. He then picked up one more shot after the turn to finish a stroke behind Scotland`s Alastair Forsyth, who collected seven birdies in a blemish-free round of 65. Englishmen Greg Owen and Nick Dougherty and Germany`s Sven Struever were tied for third on 67, Owen having been level with Els at the top of the leaderboard until he three-putted at the last. Twice major champion Mark O`Meara returned a 69 and Northern Ireland`s Darren Clarke, who struggled with his putting, had to settle for a 70.


British Open champion Els had to pull off a couple of par saves at the seventh and eighth holes, two-putting from 60 feet and then getting up and down from the back of the green.


But the South African was still enjoying riding the wave of red-hot form he has produced so far this year, winning four times in six starts, plus one second place. He also won his final event of last year, the Sun City Challenge.


Forsyth, who won his first European Tour title at last year`s Malaysian Open, snatched the lead from Els when he rifled a five-iron to four feet for a birdie at the eighth, his 17th hole of the day.


Leading scores after the first round of the $1.92 million Dubai Desert Classic at the par-72 Emirates Golf Club on Thursday (British unless stated):


65 Alastair Forsyth 66 Ernie Els (South Africa) 67 Sven Struver (Germany), Greg Owen, Nick Dougherty, Jamie Donaldson, Mikko Ilonen (Finland), Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 68 Patrik Sjoland (Sweden), Brian Davis, Mark O`Meara (U.S.), Fredrik Andersson (Sweden), Roger Wessels (South Africa), Ian Poulter, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain), David Lynn, Kevin Na (South Korea) 69 Jean-Francois Remesy (France), Jonathan Lomas, Mikael Lundberg (Sweden), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Denmark), Raphael Jacquelin (France), Nicolas Vanhootegem (Belgium), John Bickerton, Simon Yates, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), Stephen Gallacher, Ian Woosnam, Warren Bennett, Tobias Dier (Germany) 70 Raul Ballesteros (Spain), Simon Dunn, Henrik Bjornstad (Norway), David Carter, Henrik Nystrom (Sweden), Darren Clarke, Paul Lawrie, Charlie Wi (South Korea), Shingo Katayama (Japan), Marten Olander (Sweden), Henrik Stenson (Sweden), Lee Westwood, Miles Tunnicliff, Fredrik Widmark (Sweden), Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand), Klas Eriksson (Sweden), Jyoti Randhawa (India), Charl Schwartzel (South Africa)


Bureau Report