Leader Jimenez exploits Els errors
Miguel Angel Jimenez stretched his lead to four shots at the Dubai Desert Classic today – helped by an unexpected blunder from world number three Ernie Els.
The South African, second overnight and without a bogey in his first 36 holes, four-putted the first green from only 20 feet.
After charging his birdie attempt four feet past, Els allowed his second putt to slide two feet past and then, without stepping back and lining it up properly, missed his third as well.
Although he came back quickly with birdies at the third and fifth, his start gave Jimenez some breathing space and, filled with the confidence of winning five times last year, the Spaniard made 20-foot birdie putts at the fourth and ninth to turn in 33.
The Malaga golfer stood 14 under par, while Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie, two of his Ryder Cup team-mates, and Welshman Stephen Dodd joined Els in second place on 10-under.
Westwood, who broke his driver on the fourth hole yesterday but luckily had brought a spare with him, made a hat-trick of birdies from the third.
He had a chance to make it four in a row but ended up not even parring the 475-yard par-four sixth, as he three-putted from six feet.
Westwood made amends, however, by splashing out of sand to within inches of the hole on the long 10th and followed that with a birdie two.
The round was only half of the Worksop player’s sporting day. He had two runners in the Dubai race meeting later on, with Right Approach – formerly owned by the Queen – the favourite for one of them.
Montgomerie, like Els a former winner of the title, had an extra incentive to catch Jimenez.
He has yet to secure a place in this month’s Players’ Championship in Florida or next month’s Masters at Augusta, but a win would effectively take care of that.
He did not begin too well, badly pushing his approach to the first and missing a six-foot par putt, but a slice of luck began his move forward two holes later.
The 41-year-old Scot used a driver on his second shot to the par five and it caught a guarding bunker – but then hopped out.
He got down in two more for a birdie, then sank putts of six, eight and five feet on the seventh, eighth and 10th holes.
Dodd, who won his first European Tour title at the age of 38 in November’s China Open, turned in 34 and then birdied the 10th.
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