Dubai: Shane Lowry of Ireland found himself sharing the spotlight and early lead alongside world number one Rory McIlroy at the end of the first round of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates Earth course on Thursday.
Lowry and McIlroy were tied at the top of the leader board with identical 66, thanks to the seven and six birdies from the leaders. Lowry’s extra birdie was offset by a bogey on the 10th while McIlroy started off in a blaze — reeling off four birdies in the first five holes to finally end off with two successive ones on the 15th and 16th and put himself in line for a sixth trophy this season.
Declared champion of The Race to Dubai crown without lifting a club last weekend, McIlroy has enjoyed his best season ever while winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in the middle of the season and adding the Open, the US PGA and the WGC Bridgestone Invitational crowns during the later part. This streak of wins culminated with The Race to Dubai crown for the second time in three years last week.
Tied for third one shot off the pace were Denmark’s Thornbjorn Olesen and Shane Ramsay of Scotland followed by Argentinian Emiliano Grillo and former champion and Jumeirah Golf Estates ambassador Henrik Stenson with identical 68s.
McIlroy was at ease with what he has achieved. “I’m very comfortable with my game at the moment, and I’m on a really good path as I know what I need to do to make my golf game work and that’s what I’m working on at the moment,” McIlroy said.
“It should have probably been five birdies in the first five holes. It was a great way to start. But I’ve been hitting the ball well for the last couple of weeks that I’ve been practicing and it was just a matter of trying to take that good range play on to the course. I felt really comfortable coming into this week after the long stretch off Andi probably feel fresher than quite a lot of guys, so hopefully that can be to my advantage over the next few days,” he hoped.
Olesen was among the early leaders with a superb front nine of 31 with birdies on the first, third, seventh, eighth and ninth holes. The Dane started off well on the back nine with birdies on the tenth and 14th only to run into trouble with a double bogey on the par-4 16th hole to finish with a day’s total of 67.
Olesen was immensely pleased with his stroke-making. “Holes 8 and 9 are two tough holes, so to birdie those two was extremely important for the round. It can be a tough stretch there, so it was nice to get over that easily and with some nice birdies,” Olesen said.
Matching the Dane from the early tee-offs was Scotland’s Ramsay with a five-under par rattling off birdies on the first three holes. He turned in on the opening nine with a 33 keeping his momentum with another two birdies on the 14th and 15th to finish the day on 67.
“It was a really good day where I never put myself under any pressure. It was just consistent and it’s just the way I like to play. Just pick a target, hit the shot, commit to it and try to keep it as simple as possible and obviously enjoy it, because the weather is fantastic out there,” Ramsay said.
Action will resume with Marcel Siem and Brooks Koepka teeing-off at 7.40am, followed by Luke Donald and Eddie Pepperell at 7.50am on Friday. McIlroy and Lowry will be the last out from the first tee at 12.40pm.
