By John Tully-Jackson
David Horsey might have missed the cut in Abu Dhabi last week but he wasn’t about to waste the unwanted weekend off.

The 32-year-old Englishman instead toiled away on the range to top up extensive winter work with coach Peter Cowen, confident a return on the painstaking investment wasn’t far off.

It duly arrived Thursday as Horsey fired a nine-under 63 for the early clubhouse lead at the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic before settling into a share of second with countryman Anthony Wall, a shot shy of Jamie Donaldson after the Welshman’s stunning 62.

“Yeah, very pleased,” was Horsey’s understated assessment of his round as he made a positive start to his quest for a fifth European Tour title, two years removed from his last win at the 2015 Made in Denmark.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work the last four or five days since missing last week in Abu Dhabi and it felt a little bit better on the back nine [he started on the 10th], a little bit hit and miss on front, but holed quite a lot of nice putts, sort of lengthy ones, as well. Yeah, the golf course is immaculate, so if you’re playing well with no wind this morning, scoring is on.”

Horsey is not renowned for being the fastest of New Year starters. It was March last year before he broke into the top-20 for the first time at the Hero Indian Open while his best finish in Dubai was T-11 back in 2010. He missed the cut with a 77-80 last January but hopes more hours of game improvement work will be converted into less shots on the course.

“I felt something had to change because obviously not coming out of the blocks very fast in previous years.

“I’ve done a bit more work. I wouldn’t necessarily say that that’s the reason, but yeah, just if you can hit the ball on your target line, more often than not, you’re going to play well especially on golf courses like this in conditions like this.”

The hours spent with Cowen, who has recently opened the Peter Cowen Golf Academy at Emirates Golf Club, are obviously paying off.

“It’s just a small swing key, really. Not so much something I could think about on the golf course. Just trying to get the shaft a bit shallower on the downswing and it’s just tidied up my strike a little bit. Still hit a few right today so a little bit more work this afternoon, and hopefully get it better and better as time goes on.”

“It’s one thing seeing it visually swing-wise on the video, but it’s another thing feeling it and having it function. Now I feel like I understand how it’s going to function going forward and yeah, it’s just a matter of time now to hopefully get better and better.”