| -7 R McIlroy (NI); -5 T Pulkkanen (Fin), J Hansen (Den), C Bezuidenhout (SA) |
| Selected others: -4 S Horsfield (Eng), M Kaymer (Ger), S Garcia (Spa), M Armitage (Eng), R MacIntyre (Sco), C Morikawa (US); -3 S Lowry (Ire); -2 J Donaldson (Wal), T Fleetwood (Eng), P Casey (Eng), T Hatton (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng); -1 J Morrison (Eng) |
| Full leaderboard |
Rory McIlroy leads the DP World Tour Championship by two shots after hitting a seven-under-par 65 in round one.
The world number eight made a blistering start with four birdies and an eagle in the opening eight holes.
Tapio Pulkkanen, Joachim B Hansen and Christiaan Bezuidenhout are on five under while Race to Dubai leader Collin Morikawa is in a group on four under.
Morikawa is aiming to become the first American to win the European Tour’s season-long prize.
There are six players in contention to win the Race to Dubai, with Open champion Morikawa sitting top of the list and only he and fellow American Billy Horschel are guaranteed to win the title if they win this week.
“It was pretty solid throughout,” said Morikawa.
“I felt really good coming into the week with my irons. They showed up. And when putts start to drop, we’re close to (the top of) the leaderboard.”
Horschel started slowly though and is nine off the lead after a two-over 74.
Last year’s DP World Tour Championship winner Matt Fitzpatrick, fellow Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton and Paul Casey, and Australian Min-Woo Lee, can also win the Race to Dubai but need other several permutations to work in their favour.
Fitzpatrick, Hatton and Casey all shot two-under-par 70s in round one at the Jumeirah Golf Estates Earth Course, while Min-Woo is at level par.
Lee Westwood, who won last year’s Race to Dubai, did not qualify for this year’s season final on the European Tour.
McIlroy, who has twice won this event, in 2012 and 2015, was three under after two holes and a bogey at the ninth was his only blemish on an otherwise impressive start.
The Northern Irishman, a two-time winner on this year’s PGA Tour – once last season and once this – finished with a birdie on the 18th.
“I’ve been coming here for 12 years, so I’ve got a lot of experience [at this course], a lot of great memories of great shots and great putts and it’s comfortable for me,” said McIlroy.
“If you can carry the ball 300 (yards) on this course it makes it a lot easier, getting over the fairway bunkers and the landing areas get a little wider. That’s an advantage to me.”
Four-time major winner McIlroy arrived at the tournament having returned to working with long-time coach Michael Bannon following an eight-month stint with Pete Cowen.
