Four share lead in Tour finale

Dubai - "I'm right up there and i'm walking off the golf course again just a little disappointed. i'm happy, but i'm still frustrated," says Ian Poulter

Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter formed part of a four-way fight for outright supremacy at the top of the DP World Tour Championship leaderboard after the first round here on Thursday.
Both men carded a six-under par 66 on the opening day of play at Jumeirah Golf Estates and they joined at the shared summit by Australia's Marcus Fraser and a fellow compatriot of Poulter's in Andy Sullivan.
South African Branden Grace looked like joining that quartet for much of yesterday (Thursday) afternoon as he'd reached five under after only six holes.
However, bogies at the ninth, 13th and the last hampered his prior momentum and he ultimately had to be content with a tie for sixth place on four under (68) alongside Race to Dubai contenders Rory McIlroy and Danny Willett. Francesco Molinari, of Italy, is alone in fifth position on a five-under par 67.
Like Grace, Kaymer also failed to go bogey-free over the initial 18 holes, with an additional, costly stroke apiece either side of the turn for home.
Nonetheless, five birdies from the 11th will have put him in a good frame of mind ahead of today's (Friday's) second round.
"I played really solid and I didn't really make many mistakes," the 30-year-old German said. "I gave myself a lot of chance and I putted really well, so it was a very good round overall. "I'm playing well enough to compete. I didn't make anything special, so that's always a good sign."
Poulter meanwhile did get round clean and without a blemish, with three birdies across the front nine complemented by another three over the back.
The Englishman is right on the cusp of slipping out of the world's top 50 and - with Ryder Cup and World Ranking points and a lot of prize money at stake - this week would represent a good time to end his three-year trophy drought on the continental circuit. "I played well," the 39-year-old commented. "I didn't take care of the par fives, although the round was good. I hit 17 greens in regulation and only missed two fairways, so that's pretty solid stuff.
"I'm right up there and I'm walking off the golf course again just a little disappointed. I'm happy, but I'm still frustrated. It could have been a much better round of golf. I know that." Poulter added: "It obviously hasn't been a good year. It's been very disappointing and I need to win. I need to get back in the winner's circle and I'm fully aware of that.
"I need to improve the World Ranking points, I want to put Ryder Cup points on the board and, in order to do that, I need to win golf tournaments.
"It would be nice to finish real strong. I haven't won for a couple of seasons and I'd like to end the year on one."
alex@khaleejtimes.com

Scores
-6 Marcus Fraser (Australia) 66 Ian Poulter (Britain) 66 Martin Kaymer (Germany) 66 Andy Sullivan (Britain) 66 -5 Francesco Molinari (Italy) 67 -4 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 68 Alejandro Canizares (Spain) 68 Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay) 68 Chris Wood (Britain) 68 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Britain) 68 Branden Grace (South Africa) 68 Danny Willett (Britain) 68 Rory McIlroy (Britain) 68 -3 Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 69 Ross Fisher (Britain) 69 Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) 69 Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) 69 Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 69 Thomas Pieters (Belgium) 69 Tyrrell Hatton (Britain) 69 Luke Donald (Britain) 69 Lucas Bjerregaard (Denmark) 69 -2 Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 70 Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 70 An Byeong-Hun (Korea) 70 Kristoffer Broberg (Sweden) 70 Patrick Reed (U.S.) 70 -1 Justin Rose (Britain) 71 Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 71 Eddie Pepperell (Britain) 71 Peter Uihlein (US) 71 Maximilian Kieffer (Germany) 71 Richie Ramsay (Britain) 71 James Morrison (Britain) 71 Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 71 Lee Westwood (Britain) 71 Alexander Noren (Sweden) 71 Anthony Wall (Britain) 71 Gary Stal (France) 71 0 Marc Warren (Britain) 72 David Howell (Britain) 72 Rikard Karlberg (Sweden) 72 Jaco Van Zyl (South Africa) 72 Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) 72 Victor Dubuisson (France) 72 1 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand) 73 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 73 Anirban Lahiri (India) 73 Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 73 Gregory Bourdy (France) 73 Graeme Storm (Britain) 73 Julien Quesne (France) 73 2 Alexander Levy (France) 74 3 Shane Lowry (Ireland) 75 4 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 76 Lee Slattery (Britain) 76 Raphael Jacquelin (France) 76 5 Scott Hend (Australia) 77 Tommy Fleetwood (Britain) 77 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 77