Rory McIlroy takes share of the lead in pursuit of sixth Race to Dubai crown

DP World Tour Championship R1

Rory McIlroy opened with a 67 on Thursday to take a share of the opening lead at the DP World Tour Championship at 5-under.

McIlroy started the week with a 1,785.02 point lead in the Race to Dubai Rankings over South African Thriston Lawrence with 2000 points on offer to the winner on Sunday. The Northern Irishman only needs a top-10 finish to secure his sixth Race to Dubai crown and match Seve Ballesteros.

“I thought I played well. I hit the ball pretty well. I gave myself plenty of chances, plenty of looks,” said McIlroy.

“I want to go on from here and win the golf tournament. 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.

“I’m under no illusions that that was probably Thriston’s worst day. If he goes out and has three good ones, I still need to go out there and play some very solid golf.”

Tyrrell Hatton shares the lead followed at 4-under by playing partner and fellow Englishman Paul Waring who won last week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

“To be honest, I feel like the score was better than it felt,” said Hatton. “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.

“But at the end of the day, to shoot five under, you have to, I guess, play fairly solid golf. And in my head, I don’t really know what that is.”

Seven players are tied in fourth place at 3-under including Englishmen Alex Fitzpatrick and Matt Wallace who made an unfortunate double bogey at the par-3 17th.

Thriston Lawrence made four bogeys and five bogeys for a 73 and currently lies in T37.

For the latest news in the golfing world, follow us on X.

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1
1HATTON, Tyrrell-567
MCILROY, Rory-567
3WARING, Paul-468
4NAKAJIMA, Keita-369
SCOTT, Adam-369
FITZPATRICK, Alex-369
WALLACE, Matt-369
HOSHINO, Rikuya-369
HORSCHEL, Billy-369
NORGAARD, Niklas-369
11LEE, Min Woo-270
VAN DRIEL, Darius-270
BAIRSTOW, Sam-270
MERONK, Adrian-270
ELVIRA, Nacho-270
NIEMANN, Joaquin-270
OLESEN, Thorbjørn-270
ROZNER, Antoine-270
MANASSERO, Matteo-270
20SYME, Connor-171
VEERMAN, Johannes-171
OTAEGUI, Adrian-171
LOWRY, Shane-171
CAMPILLO, Jorge-171
LANGASQUE, Romain-171
MCKIBBIN, Tom-171
SMITH, Jordan-171
SVENSSON, Jesper-171
FLEETWOOD, Tommy-171
HØJGAARD, Rasmus-171
31LAPORTA, FrancescoPar72
FERGUSON, EwenPar72
COUSSAUD, UgoPar72
LACROIX, FredericPar72
MIGLIOZZI, GuidoPar72
MACINTYRE, RobertPar72
37SULLIVAN, Andy+173
PAUL, Yannik+173
LAWRENCE, Thriston+173
40ROSE, Justin+274
CANTER, Laurie+274
BRADBURY, Dan+274
HIDALGO, Angel+274
44BROWN, Daniel+375
JORDAN, Matthew+375
46GUERRIER, Julien+476
47DEAN, Joe+577
COCKERILL, Aaron+577
SÖDERBERG, Sebastian+577
50RAVETTO, David+678
Updated: November 14, 2024
DP World Tour Championship 2024
Date: 14th November - 17th November, 2024
Location: Jumeirah Golf Estates, Earth course, Dubai, UAE
Purse: $10,000,000