Thursday 17 November 2016 15:23, UK
Lee Westwood fired a superb 66 on the opening day of the DP World Tour Championship before expressing his disappointment at being denied a debut in the World Cup of Golf.
Westwood rediscovered the form that carried him to the title at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in 2009 as he made seven birdies and dropped just one shot to claim the outright lead on six under.
His round was a well-timed response to being axed from England's two-man team for next week's World Cup of Golf in Australia, an event he had been looking forward to having been chosen by Danny Willett back in August.
But Willett withdrew from the event last week due to his ongoing back issues and, with Justin Rose currently taking an extended break from golf, Chris Wood was installed as England's highest-ranked player.
Under the rules of the competition, the highest-ranked player in each team gets to choose his own partner, and Wood opted to bring in his good friend Andy Sullivan instead of sticking with Westwood.
"I had never played the World Cup before so I was really looking forward to it, and I've heard Kingston Heath is such a great golf course," Westwood told Sky Sports.
"Danny asked me to play back in August. We were paired together in the Ryder Cup, so we thought we'd have a go at the World Cup as well.
"Obviously I'm a little but disappointed, but everybody has to do certain things for certain reasons, and I understand. It goes down the world rankings, so it was up to me to be higher up the rankings to be able to pick my own partner.
"If I'm high in the world rankings and the money list next year, he (Wood) probably shouldn't be expecting a pick if I play in the World Cup! But it's Chris' prerogative to pick whoever he wants. He gets on well with Sully, and Sully is a good player, and they'll have a chance.
"I can understand him picking a mate and he's picked a very good player. I think it's probably more to do with the rules than anything, but I think the week before somebody is meant to go down there is a little late to say, 'no, you're not playing'."
Westwood, who is ranked seven places below Sullivan at 47, did lift his spirits with one of his best rounds of the season in Dubai which emulated his opening 66 over the Earth Course that set him up for a dominant six-shot victory seven years ago.
"That win is certainly in the top two or three performances in my career," he added. "It's maybe even the best performance of my career, knowing that I needed to win to beat Rory in The Race to Dubai, and did that by six and pretty much dominated the field over the weekend and it's right up there.
"Today was all good really. I played lovely, hit a lot of fairways, a lot of good iron shots, putted nicely and I didn't make too many mistakes out there. This is as good as I've played for quite some time.
"I've found a couple of keys in different parts of my game and I've been working on them hard. A 66 is a good round of golf, and it didn't seem that easy out there. Some days you feel like there's a lot of birdies out there but today I think was a pretty stiff test.
"It's a golf course I've played well on in the past and I've had quite a few good results here other than the win, and played pretty well in the desert. I've been looking forward to this week."
