By Kent Gray
Jamie Donaldson flirted with 59, frittered away his chance at the course record, finished with a 62 and at the end of it all felt, well, just fine.

The magical 10-under loop has the Welshman atop an Omega Dubai Desert Classic leaderboard plastered in deep red numbers after a breathless day of scoring reminded amateurs everywhere that the pros really do play a different game.

Donaldson would normally enjoy a bit of breathing space on the first page but this was no ordinary day as benign conditions made golf seem like darts as players fired arrows at accessible pins and cashed in on the Majlis’ impossibly pure greens. Englishmen David Horsey and Anthony Wall trail by a mere shot, Tyrrell Hatton is just two back, while Rory McIlroy headlines a swag of five lurking ominously after 65s.

Donaldson hasn’t featured so prominently since securing the winning Ryder Cup point for Europe at Gleneagles in 2014 and gave little hint of what was to come Thursday after missing the cut in Abu Dhabi last week.

But as Wall later tweeted: “Not lost it JD. Like riding a bike.” Perhaps driving a Ferrari was a better analogy after the 41-year-old’s fast start from the 10th tee, two birdies and an eagle at 13 getting him to four under in a whirr. Further gains followed at 17 and 18 in an outward 31 and when Donaldson, down to a lowly 292 in the world rankings, birdied the 3rd and added four more in successive holes from the 4th, the 59 siren was blaring.

He needed to birdie the testing 8th and notoriously tricky 9th to create European Tour history, only to ditch his drive on the beach at the penultimate hole and then watch his birdie chip burn the cup. The 59 was as gone but Donaldson still had Ernie Els’s 1994 course record 61 in his crosshairs, at least until he found a fairway bunker and thereafter a tough lie in the rough guarding the right hand side of the water-guarded green. His chip slid by and so too did his par attempt and a share of history.

But Donaldson minded not.

“Yeah, I mean, you can never be disappointed with 10-under, can you?”

“I knew what was on the cards out there, and you know, I think I had five holes to go, started thinking about 59. I thought, well, okay, just birdie every hole coming in and you’ve done it.

“I started thinking about it coming down the fifth. Birdied 5, 6, 7. Great chip on 8 after a poor tee shot, and then obviously you knew your chance had gone then.

“I didn’t know the course record. I was only thinking of 59, really. Probably shouldn’t really be thinking that. Should be concentrating on, you know, hitting fairways and hitting greens, giving myself chances. I fancied it. Wasn’t to be. I knew I had to chip that one in on 8. It was close. Didn’t go in and that was it then.

“But yeah, I’m very happy with how I’ve played. 59 is only a bonus, isn’t it. It’s icing on the cake. Everybody wants to shoot 59, but it’s something that is only if you’re playing really good golf, and that’s gone now, so it’s just a case of more of the same moving on.”

The way the venerable Majlis was brought to her knees on Thursday, it looks like more of the same will be needed to merely contend in the $3 million Desert Swing event. Of the 132 starters, 104 broke par, 13 matched it and only 15 were in the black, 2016 champion Danny Willett miserably the worst of them with a 77. The players in red numbers signed for a collective 358 under par and with the 15 strugglers included, it was still -327. Combined the field averaged 69.52 on the 7300 yard layout, not that you needed an abacus to know the scoring was ridiculously and captivatingly low.

Thankfully recent work with putting guru Phil Kenyon has Donaldson confident of remaining in the mix, a new big stick too.

“Drove it as well as I’ve driven it in a long time. New driver in the bag today, TaylorMade driver, new one, so that was really good. Very happy with all my gear and everything. Just got to keep playing like that and keep concentrating on shooting low scores for the rest of the week.”

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The 32-year-old Englishman instead toiled away on the range to top up extensive winter work with coach Peter Cowen, confident a return on the painstaking investment wasn’t far off.

It duly arrived Thursday as Horsey fired a nine-under 63 for the early clubhouse lead at the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic before settling into a share of second with countryman Anthony Wall, a shot shy of Jamie Donaldson after the Welshman’s stunning 62.

“Yeah, very pleased,” was Horsey’s understated assessment of his round as he made a positive start to his quest for a fifth European Tour title, two years removed from his last win at the 2015 Made in Denmark.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work the last four or five days since missing last week in Abu Dhabi and it felt a little bit better on the back nine [he started on the 10th], a little bit hit and miss on front, but holed quite a lot of nice putts, sort of lengthy ones, as well. Yeah, the golf course is immaculate, so if you’re playing well with no wind this morning, scoring is on.”

Horsey is not renowned for being the fastest of New Year starters. It was March last year before he broke into the top-20 for the first time at the Hero Indian Open while his best finish in Dubai was T-11 back in 2010. He missed the cut with a 77-80 last January but hopes more hours of game improvement work will be converted into less shots on the course.

“I felt something had to change because obviously not coming out of the blocks very fast in previous years.

“I’ve done a bit more work. I wouldn’t necessarily say that that’s the reason, but yeah, just if you can hit the ball on your target line, more often than not, you’re going to play well especially on golf courses like this in conditions like this.”

The hours spent with Cowen, who has recently opened the Peter Cowen Golf Academy at Emirates Golf Club, are obviously paying off.

“It’s just a small swing key, really. Not so much something I could think about on the golf course. Just trying to get the shaft a bit shallower on the downswing and it’s just tidied up my strike a little bit. Still hit a few right today so a little bit more work this afternoon, and hopefully get it better and better as time goes on.”

“It’s one thing seeing it visually swing-wise on the video, but it’s another thing feeling it and having it function. Now I feel like I understand how it’s going to function going forward and yeah, it’s just a matter of time now to hopefully get better and better.”

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