Tyrrell Hatton was pleased to post a 66 as he got his mission to make Rolex Series history off to a strong start at the 2022 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The defending champion arrived at Yas Links looking for a fifth win in the blue riband events to take him past the record total he shares with World Number One Jon Rahm, and an opening bogey-free 66 saw him sit at the right end of the lederboard after 18 holes.
Hatton revealed he had struggled for motivation to work out and practise in the second half of 2021 but after returning to the gym in the new year, he was happy to get a good score out of a round where he did not feel he was at his best.
"I am a little bit surprised," he said. "Start of the new year, you don't really know where your game is at until you play in tournament golf so, to be honest, I don't feel like I played like that great out there. I just scored really well.
"Obviously I'll take that, start of the year, six under, bogey-free is great.
"I wasn't in too much trouble. I had a couple of good two-putts from long range which helps with a little bit of momentum.
"Messed up a little bit on the second with a three-putt there but that was just a weird little short one that didn't do what I think it should have done. But overall, can't really complain, I guess.
"I just went out and tried to pick targets off the tee. I tried to score - that's how I visualise it on each tee, just trying to score as many goals as I can. I don't think I actually hit many fairways today but obviously got away with that.
"Hopefully I drive the ball a bit better tomorrow. We're going to have pretty windy conditions and I think I'm going to have to play a bit better than I did today."
