Sergio Garcia predicted more players would suffer injuries in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship after labelling the rough “dangerous”.
Garcia suffered a shoulder injury in the pre-tournament pro-am and exacerbated the problem hitting from the thick rough, the Spaniard needing treatment from a European Tour physio for three holes.
The 34-year-old will receive further treatment before deciding whether to continue in the event after struggling to an opening 76 that left him nine shots off the lead shared by England’s Matthew Baldwin, France’s Romain Wattel and Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello.
Scots Marc Warren and Craig Lee are both just one off the pace at four under.
Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley celebrated the anniversary of his appointment by carding a fine 68 to join them, while Rory McIlroy returned a flawless 70 and Open champion Phil Mickelson shot an uncharacteristic 73 with 17 straight pars and one bogey.
“The problem is they have cut it from green to tee and the ball nestles down,” Garcia said of the rough.
“Every single ball nestles down and you can’t hit it 100 yards. I have tweaked a muscle and hitting from the rough is not helping. We will see how it feels tomorrow. Hopefully I am the only one (who gets hurt), but unfortunately the way the course is set up it could happen to more people.”
Asked if he felt the rough was dangerous, Garcia added: “I would say so.”
Mickelson revealed he had also hurt his back playing from the rough on the ninth, his final hole, the left-hander conceding his much-vaunted new driver had not lived up to its pre-tournament billing.
“I kind of hurt myself going after one,” said Mickelson, who could not remember his last round without a birdie.
“When you go really hard into it and it grabs your club, your body jars up and I kind of twinged my back there on that last hole.
“You’ve got to be careful and maybe just kind of wedge it out and not risk any injury. It’s a world-class course and there’s nothing unfair about it it’s just difficult.”
Warren managed the conditions well enough, but said: “The course is really lush and that’s making the rough really, really penal.
“And I think that they have been maybe been a little bit cheeky and brushed the rough towards us a little bit; a couple of times I noticed that today. I think they are determined to test us to the limit.”
Stephen Gallacher is two under, Colin Montgomerie one over, Peter Whiteford two over, Chris Doak three over, Jamie McLeary six over and Paul Lawrie eight over.