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Birdie blitz as McIlroy tied for Dubai lead
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RORY McIlroy rattled in six birdies in an opening-round 6-under-par 66 at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, yesterday, mounting a late surge to share a one-shot lead with Ireland’s Shane Lowry.
Northern Ireland’s world No. 1 started in blistering fashion. He sank a 12-foot birdie on the opening hole on Jumeira’s Earth course and picked up a shot on the second after a misjudged eagle attempt.
A lip-out from 10 feet on the third halted his charge, but he shrugged that off with a sublime tee-shot on the 245-yard par-3 fourth as he made it four birdies in five holes.
The four-time major winner then recorded nine successive pars before picking up shots on 15 and 16.
Lowry made four birdies in his final six holes to also finish one shot ahead of Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen and Scot Richie Ramsay who stand joint-third on 67. Swede Henrik Stenson, second on the money list, shot 68 but the other big names struggled. Welshman Jamie Donaldson made a par 72 and Spain’s Sergio Garcia 73.
McIlroy was playing for the first time in six weeks after taking a break to fight a still unresolved legal case with his former agents.
During his break, he was crowned European Tour money-list winner for the second time in three years after his nearest rivals failed to win the Turkish Airlines Open last week. But there is still a lot to play for in Dubai, with the top 15 players sharing a US$5 million bonus pool on top of the event’s US$8 million purse.
In Manila, Mardan Mamat boosted his chances of retaining his Asian Tour card for next season by making light of the strong winds to leap into a share of the lead at the Manila Masters after yesterday’s first round.
The 47-year-old Singaporean fired eight birdies in a 7-under-par round of 65 to share the lead with Japan’s Daisuke Kataoka, 21 years his junior.
Mamat has won three times on the Asian Tour, including the 2012 Philippine Open, but has struggled this year and is 74th in the Order of Merit race with the top 60 retaining playing privileges for next season.
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