Rory McIlroy boosted his bid for a third straight Race to Dubai title and sixth overall by seizing a share of the lead on Thursday after the first round of the DP World Tour Championship.
McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, carded six birdies against one bogey to finish with a 5-under 67. The 35-year-old sank a 50-foot putt for birdie on the par-3 17th hole to join Englishman Tyrrell Hatton atop the season-ending event at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.
The third-ranked McIlroy would win the year-long points race with at least a 10th place finish at this event.
South African Thriston Lawrence, who needs to win the event and have McIlroy finish outside the top 10, stumbled out of the blocks and shot an opening-round 73 on Thursday. He is tied for 37th in the 50-golfer field in the United Arab Emirates.
“Yeah, I’m under no illusions that that was probably Thriston’s worst day,” McIlroy said. “If he goes out and has three good ones, I still need to go out there and play some very solid golf.”
McIlroy, however, said he has interest outside of the points race.
“I want to go on from here and win the golf tournament,” he said. “I’ve opened up with a really good score but I need to go out and play similarly over these next three days, not just to try to win the tournament but also to try to get the job done in the Race to Dubai.”
McIlroy last hoisted a trophy in May after winning the Wells Fargo Championship.
Hatton will have a say in that, even though he wasn’t too impressed with his own round on Thursday with seven birdies and two bogeys.
“To be honest I feel like the score was better than it felt. 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,” Hatton said.
“But at the end of the day, to shoot 5-under, you have to, I guess, play fairly solid golf. And in my head, I don’t really know what that is. But here we are.”
Englishman Paul Waring is one stroke behind the leaders on Thursday on the heels of winning in Abu Dhabi last week. Billy Horschel and Australian Adam Scott each shot a 69 to reside in a seven-way tie for fourth place.
