Rory McIlroy entered the season-finale on the DP World Tour with a commanding lead in the Race to Dubai and the world number two tightened his grip on top spot with an opening six-under 66 that leaves him tied for third after round one.
Playing alongside Marco Penge, his closest challenger, and with Tyrrell Hatton, the only other man capable of staging a smash and grab to deny McIlroy a seventh Harry Vardon Trophy as the leading player on the DP World Tour, just up ahead, McIlroy cruised around the Earth Course at Jumeirah Estates, making seven birdies and dropping only one shot, but by his own lofty standards, he felt it could’ve been better.
“Yeah, I got off to a great start making three birdies in a row,” he said. “And yeah, I felt like that was probably one of the best approach-play rounds I’ve had in a long time. My wedge-play felt really sharp, hit a lot of good iron shots.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m disappointed, but I feel like I left a few out there, you know? I missed a couple of short ones, but, overall it was a really solid start on a golf course that I’m very comfortable on and historically I’ve played very well.”
The 18-footer he holed on the third, making it three-in-a-row to start, was the longest putt he holed all day, knocking in six-and-a-half footers on the par-4 first and par-5 second, but missed from similar range on the par-3 fourth after a sublime bunker shot from a short-sided position, costing him his one and only bogey of the day.
Further birdies on the par-5 seventh and 14th holes came either side of back-to-back birdies from close range on the par-4 10th and 11th holes, which took him to within two of clubhouse leader Michael Kim, but four pars to close see him two back at the end of day one, with only Tommy Fleetwood on -7 between him and the leader.
Penge, who struggled with a virus early in the week, looked as though he was still a little out of sorts but closed with a birdie to get round in a two-over 74 and trail McIlroy by eight. Hatton, who would require McIlroy to finish outside the top eight along with the Englishman claiming victory to overtake him and win his first Race to Dubai title, sits on two-under after a largely frustrating day that featured two birdies and 16 pars.
But McIlroy, on the back of a season where he completed the Career Grand Slam with victory at the Masters and claimed the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Players Championship, and the Amgen Irish Open, is arguably a more complete player than he’s been at any stage in his career.
“I think when my game’s on, it feels that way,” he admitted. “I definitely feel like I’ve made big strides in those two departments [putting and wedge-play] of the game over the last few years.
“I finished in the top five in Strokes-Gained Putting on the PGA Tour this year for the first time. Definitely feel like my wedge-play is a lot better and, you know, if I drive the ball well, then I give myself so many opportunities from inside 150.
“And if that part of my game is sharp, I feel like I give myself plenty of opportunities and I think that’s why I’m consistently up there most weeks.”
Earlier in the day, Shane Lowry shot a four-under 68 that leaves him in a tie for ninth, while Tom McKibbin is just outside the top 20 at -2.
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