With so much being made about the No. 1 world ranking this week, it was Francesco Molinari who stole the limelight at the WGC-HSBC Champions event.Molinari, ranked 30th in the world, fired a seven-under 65 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at Sheshan International Golf Club.
Lee Westwood certainly showed his spectacular form in his first round as world No. 1. The Englishman, who supplanted Tiger Woods for the top spot on Monday, shot a six-under 66 and is alone in second place.
"It's only the first round of tournament and my main focus is on trying to win this HSBC Champions event," said Westwood, who missed several weeks with a leg injury." So I didn't really go out there with any particular thought to performing like the world No. 1 really."
Henrik Stenson, Yuta Ikeda and Seung-yul Noh share third place at minus-five.
Speaking of Woods, his opening round four-under 68 put him in a tie for sixth place with Pablo Martin and Luke Donald.
This represents Woods' final chance for a PGA Tour win this season. (It is considered a PGA Tour victory if the winner is a member of the PGA Tour.) Woods' tumultuous 2010 campaign hasn't yielded a victory and that hasn't happened in his 14 years as a professional.
"I got to No. 1 in the world by winning golf tournaments, and I've had that sustainability for a number of years by doing that," said Woods, who was No. 1 since 2005. "That's how you have to do it. Unfortunately I haven't done it this year. So hence, I've dropped down to No. 2."
Defending champion Phil Mickelson started with a three-under 69 on Thursday, while reigning PGA winner and Race to Dubai leader Martin Kaymer only managed an even-par 72 in round one.
Woods, Mickelson or Kaymer can make Westwood's stay atop the rankings a brief one with a victory this week.
But all of these men with No. 1 aspirations will have to get by Molinari.
The Italian began his first round on the 10th tee and parred his first three holes. He rattled off back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14, and then added a third front-nine birdie at the par-four 16th.
Molinari parred Nos. 1 and 2, but a chip-in birdie at the par-four third got him to four-under par. That hole-out birdie also kick-started a run that sent Molinari to the top of the leaderboard.
Molinari tapped in a short birdie putt at the fourth and was tied for the lead at five-under par. He took sole possession of first with an eight-foot birdie putt at No. 6, and then padded his cushion with a beautiful birdie at the par- three sixth. Molinari's tee ball rolled down a hill, back to 10 feet from the flagstick and he sank the putt to move to minus-seven.
Westwood cut the gap to one and, after some sketchy approach shots produced pars, Molinari appeared to be in some trouble at the ninth, his final hole. His second landed slightly long and right at No. 9, but his delicate chip stopped inches from the hole. Molinari tapped in to preserve his one-shot, first-round lead.
"Conditions were perfect, so I knew the scoring was a bit lower than maybe what everybody was expecting," said Molinari. "You know, I played well. I putted well. So everything seems in the right place at the moment."
Mickelson was joined in a tie for ninth by British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, Richie Ramsay, Katsumasa Miyamoto, Ryan Palmer, Fredrik Andersson Hed, Adam Scott, Ross Fisher and former PGA winner Y.E. Yang.
NOTES: Molinari won the World Cup of Golf in China with brother Edoardo last year...Francesco has only one win on the European Tour and that came at the 2006 Italian Open...Noh,19, could be the youngest winner in World Golf Championships history.
