ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

November 7, 2024

Paul Waring

Yas Links

Quick Quotes

Q. Incredible start to yours first round, 8-under 64. As good as the scorecard would suggest?

PAUL WARING: Yeah, to be fair I played some really good golf, especially midway through the front nine. I actually made bogey down 2, which is a very gettable par 5 really which is a bit of a mistake. But said to my caddie, it was so hot this morning. I didn't actually drink enough water. So I actually got on the golf course and felt a little bit ropey to be totally honest with you. So I had a bit of food and electrolytes, and that set me right. From there, I played lovely. I had the ball under so much control and putted amazing, and the rest, it adds up to a 64.

Q. There were murmurs there would be low scoring. Thomas Pieters won 10-under; 18-under the year. Before what can we expect from this course this week, given where it is in the schedule?

PAUL WARING: The thing is the heat it can make it difficult, and I think it needs just a little bit more breeze. But the greens are so perfect that every time you're over a putt, you feel like you can hole it.

I wouldn't say there's no defence to it. But the fairways, everything is so immaculate about this golf course, it's so perfect that you haven't got an excuse if you hit sort of bad shots or bad putts or anything like that. It's an absolute pleasure to go and play, even though the scoring could be quite low.

Q. I think 15-mile-an-hour is the fastest we'll see the wind hit us this week. How much will the greens evolve as the week goes on?

PAUL WARING: They could possibly get a little bit quicker, but there's no grain in them which is quite a big thing in this part of the world, grainy greens. But as you've got them so short, there's no grain at all really.

But even a 15-mile-an-hour breeze, especially the back four holes, 15, 16, 17, 18, they can have a bit of teeth. Especially if you put the pins in the back of 16 and stuff like that, it can be a tricky finish to be honest with you.

Q. 48th you stand in The Race to Dubai at the moment. I know you'll want to improve on that for next week. How much is that in the forefront of your mind?

PAUL WARING: It is, I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to stand here and say it's not but there's other targets, obviously Top-25 for The Open, PGA TOUR cards. There's so much money to play for these last two events. Two solid weeks will push me right up the list. That's the goal I'm actually going with. It would be great to play next week, don't get me wrong, but the target's a little bit bigger than that in my eyes.