McIlroy and Hatton lead the way, Waring rides in-form wave and Lacroix achieves rare feat at the fourth.
Everything you need to know from the first round on the Earth course.
McIlroy and Hatton cannot be separated
Ryder Cup stars Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton showed their class to card opening 67s in Dubai. Hatton reached the turn in 34 before a stretch from the 11th saw him go birdie-bogey-birdie-birdie. The latter saw him join playing partner Paul Waring at the summit at four under after a gain at the 14th himself. McIlroy, who went off in the final group, followed suit with birdie at the same hole, only for Hatton to nudge ahead by picking up a shot at the penultimate hole. The Northern Irishman then drained a 48-foot effort at the 17th to earn a share the lead at five under alongside the World Number 18. "I thought I played well. I hit the ball pretty well. I gave myself plenty of chances, plenty of looks," McIlroy said. "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."
Hatton, a five-time Rolex Series winner, carded seven birdies and two dropped shots in a round which surprised the 33-year-old.
"To be honest, I feel like the score was better than it felt," he admitted. "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."
Waring takes advantage of 'home' comforts
Waring is riding on the crest of a wave after last week's career-changing victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the 39-year-old carried on his rich vein of form at Jumeriah Golf Estates, where he is a member in his adopted home city. Waring is based in Dubai and relished the opportunity to take on the top 50 available players on the DP World Tour "in his backyard" on the Earth course. He hit the front on a roller coaster first day after a delightful approach at the eighth to set up his fourth birdie, which you can see below, before mixing a bogey at the 12th and a birdie at the 14th, which saw him rejoin the lead, before Hatton and McIlroy nudged ahead. "Got off to a really good start. I think I was four under (after the) front nine," he said. "Obviously coming off of last week, being able to sort of come straight out of the blocks and get going again, I was really, I'm going to say impressed with myself."
Here is how Waring took the lead at four under through eight holes.
The Englishman also produced this stunning approach at the 14th to rejoin the lead.
Langasque's birdie blitz
Romain Langasque was not hanging around during the first round thanks to a hot start in Dubai. The Frenchman birdied the opening two holes before adding a hat-trick from the fifth to surge to five under through seven holes. It was at the par-three sixth where he produced one of his best shots of the day, landing his tee shot to three feet. The 29-year-old's back nine unravelled as he carded four bogeys to sit at one under overall.
Lacroix sticks one close
Frederic Lacroix showed what he was capable of with his irons at the par-three fourth after sticking his tee shot inside three feet. It was one of only two birdies on the hole - the other came from Guido Migliozzi - in the first round. What a shot!
Nakajima's stunning second
Keita Nakajima was quietly going about his business until an eagle at the last catapulted the Japanese player to three under. The par-five hole at Jumeirah Golf Estates was playing a huge 651 yards on Thursday, but he made it look easy when, with 293 yards to the pin, he landed his second shot inside six feet. Absolutely superb!
Rozner rips one in close
Just like Nakajima, Antoine Rozner put his second to six feet at the last. He missed the eagle putt, but it did not detract from his fantastic recovery as the Frenchman was two over when teeing up at the 15th before rolling in four straight birdies to finish his first round. Rozner is three shots behind the leading duo at two under.
