New year, same old problem ... Sergio Garcia may be on his way to taking over from Tiger Woods as world number one - but he is still having putting nightmares.
Garcia began his 2009 campaign in brilliant fashion at the Abu Dhabi Championship, grabbing three birdies and then a sparkling eagle in the first 10 holes.
That left the 29-year-old 'Race To Dubai' leader five under par and only one behind Swedes Johan Edfors and Mikael Lundberg - but on the next two greens he missed par putts of under three feet.
Because of an earlier two-hour hailstorm delay, there was time for Garcia to play only two more holes - and he will resume in the morning three under and joint 15th.
That still made it a better day for him than for great rival Padraig Harrington, Masters champion Trevor Immelman and Ryder Cup team-mate Henrik Stenson.
Harrington, back to third in the world this week and building towards his attempt at a third successive major victory at Augusta in April, had to be content with a one-under 71; Immelman shot 72, and Stenson 76 after a bizarre mishap on the 475-yard 16th.
After hitting into the dense rough, Stenson - twice a winner late last year - found a ball of the same type and number, but only after hitting it did the Swede discover it did not have his personal mark on it.
That meant a two-stroke penalty and a triple-bogey seven went on his card - all on the course where Stenson shot a record 62 two years ago.
Harrington, who had warned he would be somewhat rusty after going on holiday to South Africa for 18 days over Christmas, said: "I felt reasonably good.
"I was disappointed to make the bogey on six [his 15th] and had reasonable chances on the last two greens, so maybe a shot or two better would have been certainly what it felt like."
Immelman said: "I actually felt like I hit some nice shots
but couldn't get the putter to co-operate, so I need to work on that."
Edfors missed a golden opportunity to lead on his own when he three-putted the long 18th for par, but seven earlier birdies meant that was of no great concern to the 2006 Scottish Open champion.
Lundberg, whose two European Tour victories have both come at the Russian Open, kept a bogey off his card - and there could easily have been three Swedes at the top.
Former Ryder Cup player Jarmo Sandelin's 67 included a double-bogey six on the 16th, where he almost chipped in but then three-putted.
Sandelin shared third place overnight with 20-year-old rising English star Oliver Fisher, Italian Francesco Molinari, Spaniard Ignacio Garrido and South African Louis Oosthuizen.
Garrido has three holes to complete - and Oosthuizen, with six birdies in his last seven holes, has two left.
Northern Ireland teenager Rory McIlroy, eagerly awaiting his Masters debut after charging into the world's top 40 little more than a year into his professional career, stood four under after 12 when the light went.
On the hailstorm, Molinari stated: "It was a bit of a surprise - you don't expect that to come down in the desert.
"It was a funny, new thing. I hope we won't get any of that in the next few days."
Collated first round scores in the European Tour The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Abu Dhabi GC, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
First round to be completed Friday following two-hour hailstorm delay
66 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Johan Edfors (Swe)
67 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Oliver Fisher
68 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Richard Green (Aus), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Andrew McLardy (Rsa)
69 Gary Murphy, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Graeme Storm, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Thomas Levet (Fra)
70 Marc Warren, David Dixon, Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Mark Foster, Kenneth Ferrie
71 Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Soren Hansen (Den), Robert Dinwiddie, Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Simon Dyson, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Simon Wakefield, Robert Allenby (Aus), Richard Finch, Phillip Archer, Miles Tunnicliff, Sam Little, Padraig Harrington
72 Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), John Bickerton, David Drysdale, Stephen Dodd, Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Ross McGowan, Gregory Havret (Fra)
73 Christian Cevaer (Fra), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Paul Lawrie, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Scott Strange (Aus)
74 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Steve Webster, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Nick Dougherty
75 David Howell, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind)
76 Pablo Martin (Spa), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa)
78 Benn Barham, Jamie Wood
79 Gregory Bourdy (Fra)
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