Rory McIlroy strengthened his grip on the Harry Vardon Trophy after an opening round of 67 saw him share the first-round lead with Tyrrell Hatton at the DP World Tour Championship.
It is a two-horse race at the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex, with the 35-year-old starting the season-ending event in Dubai with a healthy lead of 1,785.02 points over South Africa's Thriston Lawrence.
With 2,000 points on offer the winner, McIlroy only needs a top ten finish to secure a sixth Race to Dubai crown of his career - which would match the tally of his father Gerry's idol Seve Ballesteros.
Playing partners Hatton and Paul Waring, who sealed the biggest victory of his career at last week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, hit the front at four under after they each birdied the 14th hole, but the Northern Irishman followed suit shortly after.
Hatton became the first person to reach five under with a brilliant birdie at the penultimate hole, only to be matched by McIlroy's 48-foot putt at the same hole to share the lead with Englishman on the Earth course.
Teeing it up together in Friday's final group 😄#DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/GeqWZLadfY
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 14, 2024
"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.
"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."
The four-time Major champion, who went out in the final group alongside Lawrence, made his move at the second after draining a ten-foot putt to get in the red numbers and swiftly reached two under at the next when putting his approach inside a foot.
He overhit his bunker shot at the fifth and could not roll in his lengthy effort to save par - the only time he dropped a shot on Thursday.
McIlroy recovered with another brilliant approach at the seventh to return to two under before improving at the tenth when holing a 16-foot putt.
He joined the leading pair at the 14th with a birdie from 11 feet, only for Hatton to jump ahead to five under with a birdie at the 17th.
McIlroy responded with arguably the best putt of the day as he sunk his monster attempt to rejoin Hatton, who was in the clubhouse after a closing par.
The World Number Three leaked his approach right of the green when attempting to reach the par-five last in two and his birdie effort from the fringe just missed the left edge of the cup to remain at five under.
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. "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."
Waring, who is based in Dubai and is a member at Jumeirah Golf Estates, reached the turn in 32 before mixing a bogey and birdie on the back nine to sit alone in third at four under.
American Billy Horschel was one of seven players at three under, sitting alongside England's Matt Wallace and Australian Adam Scott, who both held the lead in some capacity during the first round, Englishman Alex Fitzpatrick, Denmark's Niklas Norgaard and Japanese duo Keita Nakajima and Rikuya Hoshino.
Lawrence, who needs to win to have any hope of denying McIlroy, birdied the last to sign for a one-over 73 which included five bogeys.
