Top trio to tee off in Dubai

The world’s top three golfers Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Tiger Woods have dominated the build-up to this week’s Dubai Desert Classic and will tee off together in the first two rounds tomorrow and Friday.

But nobody would be that surprised if a 21-year-old beats them all. He is even ahead of Westwood in the betting.

No prizes for guessing Rory McIlroy is the player – not only because of what he has done lately, but also because of what he has done at the Emirates Club in the past.

Two years ago McIlroy had what surprisingly remains his only European Tour victory at the venue and last year he was the among the first-round leaders before slipping back to sixth.

Now the youngster returns after finishes in his last five events of fifth, sixth, fifth, fourth and then second to Kaymer in Abu Dhabi three weeks ago.

A distant second it has to be said. Kaymer won by eight and for the second week running now has a chance to take the world number one spot off Westwood.

But by the time they and Woods begin locking horns early starter McIlroy hopes to have signalled his intentions.

He did not expect to play as well as he did at the commencement of the European Tour’s four-week Middle East swing after taking a long winter break.

“If you would have seen me hitting balls in Dubai you wouldn’t have said I’d make the cut,” he said.

“I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made.

“I’m actually hitting it a lot better than I was at the end of the year when I was contending in some of the tournaments. That’s a big positive for me.

“It feels like a long time since I won the Classic. I know I won last year in America, but it would be nice to win another event on the European Tour.

“The one goal that I set myself this year was just to work hard and if I can do that and I can stay true to that throughout the rest of the year I’ll be very happy.

“There were certain points last year where I didn’t feel as if I gave it 100% and as a professional sportsman you can’t do that.”

Homesickness played its part in how he felt and led to his decision not to continue his membership of the PGA Tour in America this season.

Westwood and Kaymer made the same choice and now the European Tour finds itself with the game’s top three players in one of its fields for the first time since 1994 outside majors and world championships.