Sir Nick Faldo can rest easy. There was no banter between Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood on the BBC 606 golf blog today.  

No doubt the pair were spent after the first round of the UBS Hong Kong Open where they (and Peter Lawrie) opened with four under par 66s to trail the unheralded 39-year old, Udorn Duangdecha of Thailand, by four shots.

McIlroy confirmed through his Twitter page that "yes leewestwood1 is the real deal on 606 and midgetmac is of course myself! Good banter on the golf blog!!"

McIlroy has been dubbed "midget" by naughty schoolboys Westwood and Darren Clarke and according to Rory, "they think it's hilarious, so i guess i'm stuck with it until they get too old and fat to play on tour anymore."

comment by leewestwood1 (U14178868)

Thank you Mizuno. I actually did 2 press ups just in case you missed the first one. You seem very well informed MIDGET. Not to be rude MIDGET but your name suggests that you are vertically chalenged to put it kindly. Is this the case and if true, dont get a complex about it! Youre probably still growing.

comment by midgetmac (U14000735)

Yes, some people think I am vertically challenged at 5ft 9, but the certain individuals who gave me this nickname can dish it out a lot. Saying that, they can't take it so well..... How many world ranking points do you need to become English No 1??

Now that Sir Nick is no longer Ryder Cup skipper, McIlroy dipped a toe into controversial waters when another chat turned to his lack of height.

comment by midgetmac (U14000735)

Diggers, it says a lot about a person when they say their favourite player is Nick Faldo! How tall do you look on the tele? Or maybe you don't know because you're not on it......

comment by midgetmac (U14000735)

I agree he was a great winner but the way he went about it wasn't to be admired. I much prefer Seve. Proper legend! Its not really a touchy subject but at 5'9" I dont think i'm that small.

And all this on the day that Faldo went down on bended knee in front of Her Majesty.

Needing a top 20 finish in Hong Kong to have any chance of qualifying for next week's DWC, Clarke opened with a one-under par 69 to sit just inside the cut mark in joint 65th.

Down in Melbourne, Tiger Woods justified his $3m appearance fee with a six under 66 giving him a share of the lead in the Australian Masters.

Gary Murphy must finish in the top 15 there, at the very least, or start booking air tickets to Girona for the Q-School. He did well to card a one-under 71 for T23.