Dubai: Jon Rahm is hoping to make it third time lucky in his quest to defend a title at this week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, as he sits a stroke off the pace at five-under par after day one.
“It’s my third chance this year to defend a title,” said the Spaniard, who is a stroke behind joint leaders Jordan Smith and Adrian Otaegui, tied for third with Danny Willett after Thursday’s opening round at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
“Earlier at the Farmers Insurance Open in Torrey Pines, I started off great, but wasn’t able to close it out and finish strong. And in Ireland at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, I almost got it done,” said Rahm.
“Hopefully, I’ve gotten close and maybe this progression continues and I’m able to defend this week.
“I like the thought that I’m the only one who can win it two years in a row. If I keep hitting good drives like I have today and like I did last year with decent iron play, I’ll definitely have a chance come Sunday.
“It’s a course that suits my eye, I enjoy it a lot, so hopefully I can keep the rounds in the 60s going.” His opening round contained three birdies on either nine before finishing with two bogies and a birdie.
Also doing well was 2016 Masters champion Willett who hasn’t won a tournament since that famous triumph at Augusta two years ago.
“We’re still working really hard trying to get every piece of the puzzle to come together,” he said of his progression back, with three birdies and a bogey on his front nine with four birdies and a bogey on his return.
“You’re just kind of waiting for those weeks like Westy had last week where the things come together,” he added in reference to Lee Westwood, who won his first event in four years at the Nedbank in South Africa last weekend.
“Today was a nice one to get on a Thursday. It’s just a shame it’s at the last event of the season.”
Meanwhile, Francesco Molinari took the advantage in the battle for the Race to Dubai title, where only he and Tommy Fleetwood are in contention.
Fleetwood needs to win and hope Molinari finishes below fifth in order to overtake the Italian, but as it turned out Molinari shot a four-under 68 to sit two strokes off the pace tied for fifth after two late bogies saw him fall from first. Fleetwood is a stroke behind tied for 10th with a bogey-free three-under 69, but he admitted to struggling in the breeze after the turn.
“It’s only Thursday, so many things can still happen,” said Molinari of the race. “It’s too early, really, to feel any pressure. I’m sure, depending on all the different scenarios on Sunday, it might be different. I just need to do what I’ve done all year and we’ll see on Sunday if that’s going to be enough.”
Fleetwood said: “We’re one round down and still have a chance to win the Race to Dubai. As long our head’s above the water for that, we’ll be happy to keep going. I’m just focusing purely on this tournament, three under today was a good score. You can play great and not shoot three under. So having struggled on the back nine and done it, that’s really good.”
Leaderboard
Jordan Smith -6
Adrian Otaegui -6
Danny Willett -5
Jon Rahm -5
Francesco Molinari -4
Haotong Li -4
Matt Wallace -4
Ross Fisher -4
Thomas Pieters -4
Tee times: Day 2
7.45am Joakim Lagergren, Lucas Bjerregaard
7.55am Ryan Fox, Eddie Pepperell
8.05am Brandon Stone, Matthew Fitzpatrick
8.15am Lucas Herbert, Jorge Campillo
8.25am Darren Fichardt, Russell Knox
8.35am Chris Wood, Shubhankar Sharma
8.45am Aaron Rai, Sam Horsfield
8.55am Alexander Levy, Alexander Bjork
9.05am Ian Poulter, Andy Sullivan
9.15am Martin Kaymer, Ashun Wu
9.30am Lee Slattery, Paul Dunne
9.40am Thorbjorn Olesen, Xander Schauffele
9.50am Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton
10am Erik Van Rooyen, Branden Grace
10.10am Chris Paisley Henrik Stenson
10.20am Matthew Southgate, Dean Burmester
10.30am Robert Rock, Kiradech Aphibarnrat
10.40am Thomas Detry, Lee Westwood
10.50am Shane Lowry, Dylan Frittelli
11am Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Tommy Fleetwood
11.15am Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed
11.25am Rafa Cabrera Bello, Alex Noren
11.35am Mikko Korhonen, Andrea Pavan
11.45am Marcus Kinhult, Wade Ormsby
11.55am Joost Luiten, Tom Lewis
12.05pm Hideto Tanihara, Francesco Molinari
12.15pm Matt Wallace, Haotong Li
12.25pm Ross Fisher, Thomas Pieters
12.35pm Danny Willett, Jon Rahm
12.45pm Jordan Smith, Adrian Otaegui
