Australia’s Lucas Herbert has made a stuttering start to the defence of his Dubai Desert Classic title, ending the first round 10 shots off the hot pace set by South African leader Richard Sterne.
Jason Scrivener, Herbert’s compatriot who had made such a fine start to the European Tour season with his second-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Championship last weekend, also suffered a disappointing first round.
Instead, the main initial Australian challenge in one of the Tour’s flagship events came from the experienced ’40-something’ duo of Wade Ormsby and Scott Hend.
Sterne shot an eight-under par 64 to hold a one-stroke lead over American Kurt Kitayama and two over Spain’s Sergio Garcia and South Africa’s Justin Harding.
Herbert, who reckons…