LEE WESTWOOD and Rory McIlroy are as friendly as two guys separated by 16 years can be -- yet the handshake between them on the first tee in Dubai yesterday was perfunctory, while the smile they both donned for the official photograph seemed just a little stiff.

For Westwood (36), a formidable 12-year veteran on the European Tour, the opening round of the Dubai World Championship might almost have been just another day at the office.

Yet McIlroy (20), in only his third season as a professional, had never been in a situation remotely like this. As leader of the inaugural Race to Dubai, the Holywood prodigy had been paired with his closest rival and International Sports Management stablemate Westwood in the final group on the opening day of the Tour's €5m end-of-season showpiece.

These two have dined together often in foreign cities and exchanged banter on many a far-flung fairway -- but the conversation between them yesterday was a tad more stilted than usual. "There wasn't that much chat to be honest," the youngster confessed.

Inevitably, McIlroy's swing wasn't as fluent either. So, it's to the enormous credit of the young Ulsterman (and his putter!) that he'd emerge from his first- day 'duel' in the desert sun just two strokes shy of Westwood's polished 66 and match the four-under-par 32 shot by the Englishman on the back nine.

Westwood goes into today's second round tied for second with his lanky fellow-countryman Chris Wood (21) and Colombia's Camilo Villegas, one behind accomplished Aussie Robert Allenby, back as a member of the European Tour this year after 11 years winning mega-bucks in the United States.

Meanwhile, McIlroy shared fifth place on four-under with Padraig Harrington, Aussie Adam Scott, Thomas Aiken of South Africa and China's Liang Wen-Chong.

Significantly, this meant McIlroy would not be paired with Westwood -- good news for both of them, according to the youngster, confessing that he probably focused a little too much attention on his rival during yesterday's front nine, rather than the primary task of winning this week's tournament.

"When Lee went a few in front, I wanted to make a couple of birdies, definitely," he explained. "I was level par walking up the ninth and seeing that a couple of guys, Allenby and Villegas, were on six-under sort of gave me a kick in the backside.

"I thought to myself, right, come on, you want to try and win this tournament and not just finish off the race to Dubai, so it was great to shoot that back nine and keep myself right in there."

Not for the first time yesterday, McIlroy tugged his approach to nine, leaving himself badly short-sided in the left greenside trap. Crucially, he got up-and-down to save par and later described the 12-footer he sank there as the most significant of an impressive series of saving putts he'd make yesterday.

"That was a really big putt for me. I'd make another good one for par at 12 and again at 17. It's very encouraging to putt so well on the first day of a tournament," said McIlroy. If he can keep it up and get his swing back into rhythm, he could prove unstoppable.

McIlroy smiled when told that, minutes earlier, Westwood had spoken of his determination to play yesterday's 18 holes as he would the first round of any other tournament, retorting: "Yeah, well he's been around a lot longer than me."

Projecting

Among the endless facts and stats churned out by the Tour's computers was one projecting where each player would stand in the Race to Dubai if the tournament ended after yesterday's 18 holes -- Westwood led McIlroy by €153,033, while the only other two players with a chance of winning the Order of Merit, Martin Kaymer (71) and Ross Fisher (73) held station at third and fourth respectively.

Of those at the top of the tournament leaderboard, Villegas played best, finding all 14 fairways off the tee and hitting all 18 greens in regulation, while Harrington looked lean and set off hungrily in pursuit of his first Tour win in 2009 after a week's holiday in the Arabian sunshine with his family.

Peter Lawrie and Gareth Maybin were among the dozen players tied for 22nd on one-under -- a relatively satisfying start, though Ballyclare favourite Maybin and his playing partner Aiken were furious when put on the clock nearing the turn as officials tried to enforce a target of three hours 46 minutes per round.

Three-under after his first five holes, Maybin bogeyed eight and nine, while Aiken, also plainly flustered, three-putted from 18 feet for bogey at 10.

Damien McGrane three-putted three times on his way to a 74. Graeme McDowell's opening 76 included 35 putts and an ugly double-bogey seven at 18, where he was just short of the green in three after finding trouble off the tee. Taking out his putter, the Portrush man then hit his ball into the hazard.

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- Karl MacGinty

Irish Independent