McIlroy fires 65, takes first-round lead at Dubai

Rory McIlroy upstaged the world's top three golfers with a 7-under 65 yesterday to take the first-round lead at the Dubai Desert Classic in the United Arab Emirates, four shots better than No. 1 Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer and six ahead of an inconsistent Tiger Woods.

McIlroy, whose only European Tour win came in Dubai 2 years ago, had eight birdies to go with one bogey at the Emirates Golf Club. The seventh-ranked McIlroy took the early lead and held it. Sergio Garcia (67) and Thomas Aiken (67) trailed by two shots in windy conditions.

"I really had a lot of iron shots and got away with a couple of drives that I was quite fortunate to make birdies from," the 21-year-old McIlroy said. "I had a putt for a 64 on the last that didn't quite go in. But I'll take 65 in these conditions any day."

Woods shot a 71 and had problems early in the day, twice going to 2 over. But he eagled the 18th hole after hitting a 3-wood about 250 yards to the green.

"I struggled today with ball flight," he said. "My trajectory wasn't what I wanted on a lot of shots, and consequently, I could never get a ball pin high especially when the wind is blowing this hard."

In other golf news:

* Steve Marino and D.A. Points shared the lead in the Pebble Beach (Calif.) National Pro-Am despite having different scores in an entirely different atmosphere. Marino birdied his last two holes for a 7-under 65 at Spyglass Hill. Points played at Monterey Peninsula in front of the largest crowds. Points, who had Bill Murray as his amateur partner, shot a 7-under 63.

* Emory Bellard, a former Texas A&M and Mississippi State coach credited with developing the wishbone offense when he was an assistant at Texas, has died. He was 83. A Texas A&M official said Bellard had Lou Gehrig's disease. Bellard was on Darrell Royal's staff at Texas in 1968 when the Longhorns developed a formation with three running backs that came to be known as the wishbone.

* An NCAA committee proposed adopting a 10-second runoff for clock-stopping penalties in the final minute of each half, changing the intentional grounding rule and experimenting with placing umpires behind the running backs. Intentional grounding will not be called if an eligible receiver is in the area of the pass. A vote on the proposals is expected April 14.

* The Wings' Max Seibald was selected as a reserve on the Eastern Division team for the National Lacrosse League All-Star Game Feb. 27 in Verona, N.Y. Earlier in the week, Wings' goaltender Brandon Miller was chosen as a starter.

* Matthew Homan was named general manager of the Wells Fargo Center.

* Hugh McCutcheon, coach of the gold medal-winning U.S. men's volleyball team in Beijing, will leave the women's national team to become head women's coach at Minnesota. It is unclear if McCutcheon will remain with the U.S. women through the 2012 Olympics in London.

* Lindsey Vonn said she will treat today's super-combined race at the world championships in Germany as a training run, adding she'll pull up if she feels the lingering effects of a concussion. Vonn finished seventh in the super-G on Tuesday, and said she felt like she was "skiing in a fog."

* South African officials say they have banned cyclist Michael Dean Pepper for 3 years after he tested positive for clenbuterol.