The unmistakeable Ian Poulter and two of golf's less conspicuous professionals, Richard Bland and Keith Horne, led the way after a first day of the Abu Dhabi Championship during which an array of players topped the leaderboard.
Poulter and his fellow Englishman Bland, along with South Africa's Horne were one shot better off at seven under par than a cluster of nine players sharing fourth position after the first of the four rounds on what was expected to be a much tougher National Course.
Lee Westwood's pre-tournament declaration that nobody would get near to his brilliant 23-under-par aggregate that captured the lucrative Dubai World Championship and with it the Race to Dubai in November, is already looking flawed.
Ideal conditions made sub-par rounds a formality for most of the 126-man field and the likelihood is that tonight's halfway cut-off mark will be well into the red numbers.
Poulter, renowned in his earlier professional days for his extraordinary choice of attire, was first to snatch the clubhouse lead from the array of 66s and was elated by the way he had performed in his first competitive round of the new season.
"I wasn't expecting to come out of the blocks as fast as that," he admitted. "But I'll certainly take it. I hit it lovely. I've done an awful lot of work recently and it is clearly paying off."
Bland and Horne were drawn in the last threeball of the opening day - a slot not normally allocated to potential champions but they drew inspiration from each other to post their splendid 65s - 10 shots better than their French playing partner Francois Delamontagne, who lived up to his "rabbit" billing.
Bland, who has yet to win on the European Tour after turning professional in 1996 was pinching himself starting his first competitive round of the New Year with three birdies. He kept his bogey-free round going splendidly.
"I've put myself in a great position but this is a world class field and there is a long way to go," he said.
Horne, 38, has three victories to his credit on his native Sunshine Tour among his six career titles and unlike most of the others in the early reckoning he arrived in Abu Dhabi with his game finely honed, having finished joint runner-up to Charl Schwartzel in last week's Joburg Open.
"As I said last week I have been playing well for a long time so there is a lot of confidence there at the moment," said Horne.
"I enjoyed it thoroughly out there. The course is in amazing condition," he added, grateful that the daylight lasted just long enough for him to make a safe par at the last hole.
Big names are queueing up to overtake the three leaders today. Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia, playing together among the afternoon starters, joined the lengthy list on 66 and will be hoping to set a testing clubhouse target when they go out early this morning.
@Email:wjohnson@thenational.ae
65- Ian Poulter (Britain), Richard Bland (Britain), Keith Horne (South Africa)
66- Sergio Garcia (Spain), Peter Hanson (Sweden), Stephen Dodd (Britain), Paul Lawrie (Britain), Daniel Vancsik (Argentina), Alexander Noren (Sweden), Alvaro Quiros (Spain), Rory McIlroy (Britain), Rhys Davies (Britain)
67- Rafael Echenique (Argentina), Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa), Martin Kaymer (Germany), Thomas Aiken (South Africa)
68- Mark Foster (Britain), Steve Webster (Britain), Francesco Molinari (Italy), Bradley Dredge (Britain), Todd Hamilton (US), Shiv Kapur (India), Paul Waring (Britain), Shane Lowry (Ireland)
Also: Finding your way around National
Also: Tee times, Day 2
MATCH INFO
Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 12’) Liverpool 1 (Minamino 73’)
Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties
Man of the Match: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal)
As it stands in Pool A
1. Japan - Played 3, Won 3, Points 14
2. Ireland - Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1, Points 11
3. Scotland - Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1, Points 5
Remaining fixtures
Scotland v Russia – Wednesday, 11.15am
Ireland v Samoa – Saturday, 2.45pm
Japan v Scotland – Sunday, 2.45pm
The Lowdown
Kesari
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
The Outsider
Stephen King, Penguin
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
How to turn your property into a holiday home
- Ensure decoration and styling – and portal photography – quality is high to achieve maximum rates.
- Research equivalent Airbnb homes in your location to ensure competitiveness.
- Post on all relevant platforms to reach the widest audience; whether you let personally or via an agency know your potential guest profile – aiming for the wrong demographic may leave your property empty.
- Factor in costs when working out if holiday letting is beneficial. The annual DCTM fee runs from Dh370 for a one-bedroom flat to Dh1,200. Tourism tax is Dh10-15 per bedroom, per night.
- Check your management company has a physical office, a valid DTCM licence and is licencing your property and paying tourism taxes. For transparency, regularly view your booking calendar.
The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
ENGLAND SQUAD
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Results
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RoboCop%3A%20Rogue%20City
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETeyon%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENacon%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsole%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PlayStation%205%2C%20Xbox%20Series%20X%2FS%20and%20PC%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
DSC Eagles 23 Dubai Hurricanes 36
Eagles
Tries: Bright, O’Driscoll
Cons: Carey 2
Pens: Carey 3
Hurricanes
Tries: Knight 2, Lewis, Finck, Powell, Perry
Cons: Powell 3
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
BAD%20BOYS%3A%20RIDE%20OR%20DIE
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