Stenson joint last at start of Abu Dhabi Championship

The form which swept Henrik Stenson to two notable victories before Christmas deserted him when the Abu Dhabi Championship began today.

After a two-hour hailstorm delay, Stenson, a winner of the World Cup with Robert Karlsson in China and then the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa, slumped to joint last place on four-over-par with seven holes to play.

And this on the course where he shot a record 10 under 62 two years ago.

Playing alongside the Swede were defending champion Martin Kaymer and Open and US PGA champion Padraig Harrington.

Kaymer was going well again at three under, three off the early pace set by Swede Johan Edfors, while Harrington’s 2009 campaign began with 10 successive pars before he rolled in his first birdie putt from 15 feet at the long second.

Stenson hit big trouble on the 475-yard 16th, his seventh of the day. Driving into the dense rough on the demanding par four was bad enough, but after playing his next shot the world number 12 discovered he had hit the wrong ball.

The two-stroke penalty led to a triple-bogey seven and after coming back with a birdie he had another long search off a wild drive down the long 18th and, though he eventually found the right ball, he ran up a bogey six to turn in 40.

Two hours were lost when the storm hit just after 9am and bunkers, greens and fairways all had to be cleared of surface water before play could continue.

Edfors had a hat-trick of birdies either side of the hold-up, then picked up three more shots in a row at the start of the back nine.

That put him one ahead of compatriot Mikael Lundberg and Italian Francesco Molinari, while England’s Robert Dinwiddie and another Swede, Jarmo Sandelin, were two back.

Masters champion Trevor Immelman stood one over with six to go, while Sergio Garcia and Colin Montgomerie were among the later starters.