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Stenson and Allenby share WGC lead

22/03/2007

Sweden's Henrik Stenson started his bid for a second successive World Golf Championship win in spectacular style with a round of 67 at Florida's Doral Golf course.

The only man who could match his early pace was the Australian Robert Allenby, who also returned to the clubhouse five-under for the first round and a shot ahead of Thomas Bjorn in third.

The heavily-tipped Tiger Woods, who won this competition last year and has taken victory in his last two visits to Doral, failed to live up to the pundits' predictions and failed to build on a rapid start, ending up with a one-under 71.

Other high-profile names have left themselves with even more to do as eight-time European number one Colin Montgomerie again failed to adapt to stateside conditions; finishing four-over for the day, while Phil Mickelson went one worse to five-over.

It has been left up to the Spanish duo of Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia to support the European challenge with rounds of 69 and 71 respectively.

"I've been working hard on my putting and that was the key for me today. But it was a struggle out there and you had to grind it out. I kept it in play pretty much all day long and when I was in trouble I managed to save myself," Stenson said.

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