McIlroy tied for lead at World Tour
Championship and strengthens Race to Dubai title bid
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[November 15, 2024]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rory McIlroy was already
an overwhelming favorite to win the European tour’s season-long Race
to Dubai title.
He made his chances even better on Thursday.
McIlroy shot 5-under 67 and was tied for the lead with Tyrrell
Hatton after the first round of the season-ending World Tour
Championship.
A top-10 finish will guarantee McIlroy wins the year-long points
race — formerly known as the Order of Merit — for the sixth time,
tying with the late Seve Ballesteros and moving two behind Colin
Montgomerie’s record haul.
Thriston Lawrence, the South African who is second in the Race to
Dubai standings behind McIlroy, is the only player who can catch the
Northern Irishman and opened with a 73, leaving him six strokes
behind his rival already.
“I am under no illusions that that was probably Thriston’s worst
day,” McIlroy said.
Lawrence has to win — nothing less is good enough — and then needs
McIlroy to finish tied for 11th or lower.
Paul Waring, the winner in Abu Dhabi last week in the first event of
the end-of-season playoffs, was alone in third place after a 68 and
American golfer Billy Horschel was in a seven-way tie for fourth
place, one stroke further back.
The No. 3-ranked McIlroy made six birdies, the highlight coming on
the par-3 17th when he rolled in a 50-footer to join Hatton in the
lead.
The par-5 last hole offered a good chance for McIlroy to take the
outright lead, especially after he split the fairway with his drive.
He leaked his approach right, failed to find the green with his
third shot and narrowly missed his birdie attempt.
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Thriston Lawrence of South Africa hits off the first tee during the
first round of World Tour Golf Championship in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
McIlroy was playing alongside Lawrence in the final
group and said he was thinking of more than what the South African
was doing.
“I want to go on from here and win the golf
tournament,” McIlroy said. “I have opened with a really good score
but I need to go out and play similarly over these next three days.”
Hatton, who plays on the LIV Golf circuit, finished two shots back
in second place last week after a closing 64 and carried that form
to Dubai, even though he didn't feel too comfortable around the
Earth Course.
“To be honest, I feel like the score was better than it felt,” the
No. 18-ranked Hatton said. “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.”
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