Rory McIlroy looks on course to win his sixth Race to Dubai title and move level with Seve Ballesteros after he took a share of the lead with Tyrrell Hatton at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
A back nine of 33 moved McIlroy alongside Hatton as he carded an opening round of 67 for a five-under total while his closest challenger, Thriston Lawrence, stumbled to a one-over 73 with the South African needing a victory and McIlroy to finish outside the top-11.
“I did well. I hit the ball pretty well. I gave myself plenty of chances, plenty of looks. When I did put myself out of position, I was smart and either just trying to get it back in position or leave myself with a bit of room to work with if I was missing the greens.
“Thriston didn’t have his best day and I fully expect that it’s his worst day this week. I still have to go out there and play very solid golf to get the job done. I want to go on and win the tournament now and try to end the season on a really nice high.”
McIlroy started with authority with birdies on the 2nd and 3rd and recovered from his only bogey of the day on 5 with birdies on 7, 10, 14 and 17 to take control of the Race to Dubai but also give himself a great chance of claiming a fourth win of the season.
The world number three has been making some swing changes, most notably to his takeaway position in order to narrow in his misses. Other than a bit of a wide with his approach to the par-5 18th, it was plain sailing on the Earth Course.
“I think just a little bit more consistency. My start lines will come in a little bit, so even my misses will become a little bit better. I had a criticism of my game over the past 18 months is that the misses had become a little too wide, and they were getting me into trouble.
“Again, we are not going to hit perfect golf shots all the time but if you can minimize the misses and make sure that they are not destructive, that’s always a good thing.”
Hatton, a five-time Rolex Series winner, carded seven birdies and two dropped shots in a round which surprised the 33-year-old.
“To be honest, I feel like the score was better than it felt,” he admitted. “I felt I was tinkering over most tee shots and at times, I felt like my misses were bigger than perhaps they have been over the last month or so, month and a half.
“But at the end of the day, to shoot five under, you have to, I guess, play fairly solid golf. And in my head, I don’t really know what that is.”
Last week’s winner Paul Waring who is a member of Jumeirah Golf Estates is one shot off the pace after a 68 while American Billy Horschel is one of seven players at three under, sitting alongside England’s Matt Wallace and Australian Adam Scott, Alex Fitzpatrick, Niklas Norgaard and Japanese duo Keita Nakajima and Rikuya Hoshino.
Shane Lowry is four shots off the pace on one-under-par while Tom McKibbin’s PGA Tour hopes are still alive after an opening 71 of his own.
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