Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship R1

January 21-24
Abu Dhabi GC, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
$8,000,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

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Rory McIlroy got his season off to the perfect start as the Northern Irishman carded a stunning eight under 64 in the opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the first Rolex Series event of the 2021 Race to Dubai.

The four-time Major winner is still chasing his maiden victory at the prestigious tournament, despite a remarkable record which includes four runner-up finishes, three third place finishes, a top five and a top 15. But his opening 64 was his lowest ever round in 11 appearances at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

“I knew 65 is the best I’ve shot here and I’ve shot it a few times, so I thought let’s try to go one better on the next nine and I was able to do that. Maybe played slightly better on our front nine, but I holed some really nice putts coming in for birdie s. It was obviously a lovely way to start the year.”

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McIlroy carded two birdies in the opening three holes, having teed off at the par five tenth which he duly birdied, and coasted to six more in a flawless round which left him one stroke clear at the top.

“A lot of it was very good. I felt like I drove the ball well for the most part, a couple of swirly ones in the middle of the round. Distance control was really good. I think I started off really well. Hit a lot of nice iron shots. Honestly it was probably the best I’ve putted these greens in Abu Dhabi probably in my whole career. I’ve shot some really good scores here but I holed some really good ones today. And I’ve always struggled to read them here, but I sort of got my eye in early and kept me going.”

Leading the chasing pack was three-time Rolex Series winner Tyrrell Hatton, who signed for a seven under 65 which included a pair of eagles in his first nine holes – opening his account for the season with a three at the tenth before picking up another eagle at the ninth.

“I’m really happy with that,” said Hatton. “I think I got away with it, ten holes, I hit one fairway, so that wasn’t ideal. The wind certainly picked up as the round went on, which I think the guys going out this afternoon, it’s going to be a lot tougher for them. Obviously I can only play with what’s in front of me and I’m happy with the job I managed to do in the end.

“Depending on the wind direction, if you can take advantage of them, you to need to do that. Like I said I was able to do that today and hopefully I can do that over the next few days.”

Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti was a shot further back on six under, while Frenchman Romain Langasque and Rafa Cabrera-Bello of Spain shared fifth place on five under. Defending champion and reigning Race to Dubai champion Lee Westwood opened with a three under 69.

“I am (travelling) from Paraguay,” said Zanotti. “It’s very tough to get the flights and then to go back home. So to be here playing, it feels great, really. I didn’t practice too much at home. I was with covid, I have (had) it already, but I just have enough time to come here and at the end I just finished practising six days before coming, and I was feeling good. The practice rounds were good, also, and today I think I do what I practiced.”

Play was suspended due to darkness with round one set to restart at 7:40am local time.

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Pos.	Player	Thru	To Par	R1
1	Rory McIlroy	F	-8	64
2	Tyrrell Hatton	F	-7	65
3	Fabrizio Zanotti	F	-6	66
T4	Romain Langasque	F	-5	67
T4	Rafa Cabrera Bello	F	-5	67
T6	Ignacio Elvira Mijares	F	-4	68
T6	Lucas Herbert	F	-4	68
T6	Matt Wallace	F	-4	68
T6	Victor Perez	F	-4	68
T10	Justin Rose	11	-3
T10	Jason Scrivener	8	-3
T10	Joost Luiten	11	-3
T10	Wade Ormsby	F	-3	69
T10	James Morrison	F	-3	69
T10	Lee Westwood	F	-3	69
T10	Mikko Korhonen	F	-3	69
T10	Stephen Gallacher	F	-3	69
T10	Steven Brown	F	-3	69
T10	Kiradech Aphibarnrat	F	-3	69
T20	George Coetzee	11	-2
T20	Grant Forrest	6	-2
T20	Matthew Fitzpatrick	F	-2	70
T20	Laurie Canter	F	-2	70
T20	Jamie Donaldson	9	-2
T20	Padraig Harrington	F	-2	70
T20	David Horsey	F	-2	70
T20	Bernd Wiesberger	F	-2	70
T20	Oliver Wilson	F	-2	70
T20	Andrea Pavan	7	-2
T20	Eddie Pepperell	8	-2
T20	Aaron Rai	10	-2
T32	Ian Poulter	F	-1	71
T32	Thomas Pieters	10	-1
T32	Callum Shinkwin	13	-1
T32	Antoine Rozner	13	-1
T32	Matthias Schwab	F	-1	71
T32	Michael Lorenzo-Vera	9	-1
T32	Graeme McDowell	10	-1
T32	Danny Willett	12	-1
T32	Julian Suri	8	-1
T32	Sebastian Soderberg	8	-1
T32	Henrik Stenson	F	-1	71
T32	Richard Sterne	8	-1
T32	Brandon Stone	10	-1
T32	Marc Warren	7	-1
T32	Rasmus Højgaard	10	-1
T32	Jazz Janewattananond	6	-1
T32	Scott Hend	F	-1	71
T32	Kurt Kitayama	7	-1
T32	Søren Kjeldsen	F	-1	71
T32	Haotong Li	F	-1	71
T32	Nino Bertasio	F	-1	71
T32	Lucas Bjerregaard	8	-1
T32	Kristoffer Broberg	9	-1
T55	Alexander Björk	9	E
T55	Thomas Bjørn	9	E
T55	Christiaan Bezuidenhout	12	E
T55	Gaganjeet Bhullar	F	E	72
T55	Marcus Armitage	10	E
T55	Nicolas Colsaerts	11	E
T55	Ross Fisher	F	E	72
T55	Ashley Chesters	F	E	72
T55	Lorenzo Gagli	8	E
T55	David Lipsky	10	E
T55	Alexander Levy	F	E	72
T55	Tom Lewis	F	E	72
T55	Francesco Laporta	F	E	72
T55	David Law	7	E
T55	Scott Jamieson	6	E
T55	Maximilian Kieffer	F	E	72
T55	Benjamin Hebert	8	E
T55	Richard Bland	F	E	72
T55	Andy Sullivan	F	E	72
T55	Jordan Smith	F	E	72
T55	Justin Walters	8	E
T55	Robert MacIntyre	F	E	72
T55	Ahmed Marjan	F	E	72
T55	Adrian Otaegui	10	E
T55	Chris Paisley	F	E	72
T55	Robert Rock	9	E
T55	Shubhankar Sharma	12	E
T82	Kalle Samooja	8	1
T82	Ross McGowan	10	1
T82	Tapio Pulkkanen	F	1	73
T82	Alvaro Quiros	8	1
T82	Guido Migliozzi	F	1	73
T82	Edoardo Molinari	6	1
T82	Paul Waring	F	1	73
T82	Justin Thomas	F	1	73
T82	Joel Stalter	F	1	73
T82	Ashun Wu	7	1
T82	Garrick Higgo	7	1
T82	Calum Hill	9	1
T82	Raphael Jacquelin	8	1
T82	Martin Kaymer	12	1
T82	Pablo Larrazabal	9	1
T82	Ryan Fox	F	1	73
T82	David Drysdale	F	1	73
T82	Sean Crocker	6	1
T82	Thomas Aiken	F	1	73
T101	Adri Arnaus	12	2
T101	Jorge Campillo	7	2
T101	Victor Dubuisson	7	2
T101	Gavin Kyle Green	F	2	74
T101	Julien Guerrier	F	2	74
T101	Min Woo Lee	7	2
T101	Zander Lombard	F	2	74
T101	David Howell	F	2	74
T101	Robert Karlsson	10	2
T101	Justin Harding	11	2
T101	Matthew Southgate	11	2
T101	Jeff Winther	F	2	74
T101	Chris Wood	F	2	74
T101	Richard McEvoy	13	2
T101	Richie Ramsay	F	2	74
T116	Sami Valimaki	10	3
T116	Joachim B. Hansen	8	3
T116	Masahiro Kawamura	6	3
T116	John Catlin	F	3	75
T116	Tommy Fleetwood	10	3
T116	Thomas Detry	10	3
T122	Oliver Fisher	F	4	76
T122	Ahmad Skaik (a)	F	4	76
T122	Shane Lowry	11	4
T122	Wilco Nienaber	F	4	76
T126	Matthieu Pavon	F	5	77
T126	Renato Paratore	13	5
T126	Haydn Porteous	F	5	77
T126	Arjun Gupta	9	5
130	Dean Burmester	F	6	78
131	Marcus Kinhult	F	9	81
WD	Joakim Lagergren
WD	Joakim Lagergren
DNS	Andrew Johnston