Omega Dubai Ladies Masters: A familiar name to golf fans near top of leaderboard thanks to Cheyenne Woods

Cheyenne Woods plays her fourth shot on the eighth hole during the completion of the first round of the 2016 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters on the Majlis Course at the Emirates Golf Club on December 8, 20Show more

DUBAI // For a while in Dubai on Thursday, the name Woods was perched proudly at the head of the leaderboard at Emirates Golf Club.

Cheyenne Woods, whose family lineage is well documented, sat 6-under after 16 holes in the first round of the abbreviated Omega Dubai Ladies Masters, and with it moved into sole position at the summit.

It was just a shame a double-bogey on her penultimate hole blotted her day’s play. As it stood when Woods walked off the Majlis, she was in a tie for second, 4-under par and one shot and one spot behind early pacesetter Florentyna Parker. All in all, not a bad day at the office.

“I thought I played really well,” Woods said. “The two nines were a little different with the front nine 5-under and the back nine 1-over, but overall I’m happy with how I played and where my game is at.”

That blemish on her 17th hole, the par-4 8th, though.

“Yeah, that was not very good,” she said. “It was ugly.”

The majority of her other play was anything but. Making her second appearance at the tournament and first in two years, Woods reeled off four birdies in the initial six holes on Wednesday, before tragedy struck and the day’s play was suspended because of the death of caddie Maximillian Zechmann.

Woods conceded it has been a difficult beginning to the event for all concerned, but appeared to quickly regain focus once the first round resumed on Thursday morning. Returning on the 16th — her seventh - the American soon settled into her stride.

“I started par, par, birdie, birdie, so I picked up where I left off yesterday,” said Woods, although she had actually carded three consecutive birdies, after opening with a par, to jump to 7-under. “So it was a great feeling to know that I still had the game.”

Nevertheless, the previous morning’s events had certainly left their mark.

“I think everybody was in a little bit of shock,” said Woods, who spent the intervening downtime trying to keep her mind off golf. “It’s really hard to even go do anything after something tragic like that happens. It puts a lot in perspective, so I’m just thankful to be able to be here today and to be able to play golf.”

That continues Friday, where Woods will target an even better performance to lay the foundations for a real shot the following day at a third professional victory. Even if it was just for a moment, however brief, she seemed to channel some prime-time uncle Tiger.

“I know where I can improve,” Woods said. “I left a few shots out there and I’ll be able to maybe make them up. I feel I’m in a great position and think I can do even better tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.”

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