| -9: S Jamieson (Sco); -8: V Hovland (Nor); -7: T Pieters (Bel) -6: T Hatton (Eng), J Morrison (Eng), V Perez (Fra), I Poulter (Eng), T Kanaya (Jap); -5: C Schwartzel (SA), T Detry (Bel), S Lowry (Ire), *M Kinhult (Swe) |
| Selected others: Level R McIlroy (NI); -1 L Westwood (Eng), R Bland (Eng) -4 T Fleetwood (Eng), R Rock (Eng), D Whitnell (Eng) |
| *Kinhult played 17 holes before play was suspended |
Scotland’s Scott Jamieson produced a superb round of nine under par to lead the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The 38-year-old was bogey-free and found nine birdies at the Yas Links course to set the early pace on day one of the DP World Tour’s season-opener.
Norway’s Viktor Hovland is a shot behind, with Belgium’s Thomas Pieters at seven under.
Defending champion Tyrrell Hatton is six under along with fellow Englishmen James Morrison and Ian Poulter.
Poulter, who last won at the Houston Open in 2018, birdied eight of his opening 14 holes but made a double-bogey on the par-four 16th.
He told BBC Sport it was “good to be shooting a nice score” before joking that “trying to keep [17-year-old son] Luke from beating me is about the biggest motivation I’ve got left in the game.
“He’s really close, we tied the last few times, which is annoying him but self-motivating for me.”
Tommy Fleetwood – who won the tournament in 2017 and 2018 – is at four under, while world-number-eight Rory McIlroy matched four birdies with as many bogeys in a level-par opening.
Former Open champion Shane Lowry made an impressive start with six birdies and just one bogey in a 67.
After signing for a round of 63 world number 336 Jamieson said: “Eight weeks without tournament golf, I birdied the first and it settled any edge there was. It was just really solid all day.
“This is probably the first off season where I didn’t figure out how to get better in the off season. I was pretty comfortable with where my game was, I just had to hope it turned up again eight weeks later.
“I kept telling myself you have to hit the ground running here as it can ultimately dictate your season. If you miss the first couple of cuts of the year you can suddenly feel you’re miles behind.”
Jamieson tied for 13th in his last start at the Dubai Championship in November.
