Spieth made victim of European Tour’s new pace-of-play policy

The Northern Irishman has finished runner-up in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship four times in eight starts.

Left facing a £2,000 fine if he is pulled up again, the American was understandably
baffled, though, in keeping with his conduct since becoming the game’s new superstar with his two major wins last season, he neither created a scene after being confronted by Paramor nor went over the top with his comments on the matter afterwards.

Al Awani said: “The founders continue to support this event which benefits charity and which these year will raise funds for the Emirates Red Crescent”.

Spieth and playing partners Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler were told by European Tour chief rules official John Paramor heading to the fourth tee – their 13th hole of Thursday’s opening round – that the group was being monitored for their pace of pace.

“Sometimes referees have to use a bit of common sense”, said McIlroy, who sympathized with Spieth.

“I scrambled pretty well for the majority of the round and then a couple wedge shots just really (stopped) me from making it a great round”.

The pack is still wide open with many in contention, with the likes of tournament back-to-back victor Martin Kaymer in tied 12th, along with the likes of Belgian Thomas Pieters and South Korea’s Byeong Hun An.

He could hardly credit being within two of McIlroy, who regularly out-drove him by 40 yards and more.

McIlroy stopped a run of pars by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt at the eighth and narrowly missed out on another at the last, as Spieth carded two birdies over his final four holes to close a four-under 68.

“I got a bad time on my putt on the eighth when they took us off the clock on that green and the guys behind us hadn’t even reached the fairway on a par-5”, said a perplexed Spieth. So to shoot 4- under with the way I felt with my driver is spectacular.

“It is nice, it is always fun to watch somebody stripe it. You see a solid shot before you hit one”.

But with his iron play on song, the 39-year-old Swede had absolutely no trouble throughout the day.

But for a few missed tiddlers McIlroy – who had not played competitively for two months – would have been in the clubhouse sharing the lead with DeChambeau, the US Amateur champion, who like Spieth is 22. “I want to play my best and I don’t have to just beat Jordan this week”. “You’ve got people out there like Einstein, George Washington – they just stood out and capitalized on their differences and showed the world a little different side”.

Henrik Stenson birdied five of his last eight holes in his first round since keyhole surgery on his right knee in December, and was alone in second place at 7 under. It’s unsure and it will be I think unsure for 10 to 20 years how significant a gold medal will be in golf.