Where eagle dares as Rory bids for No.1
RORY McILROY admitted he may have played his best shot of the year to cap a fine first round at the DP World Tour Championship, as he bids to add more silverware to his new trophy cabinet.
A towering three-wood approach from 286 yards to the 18th hole at Jumeirah Golf Estates finished five feet from the pin to set up an eagle and give McIlroy an eight-under-par 64, his lowest score in an event he won in 2012 and 2015.
That left the world No.2 just a shot off the lead held by France’s Mike LorenzoVera, as he chases another win this year to move closer to reclaiming top spot in the rankings from Brooks Koepka.
‘Honestly, it’s possibly the best shot I’ve hit all year,’ said McIlroy. ‘I just flushed it.’
The Northern Irishman has won four times this season and returned home from his latest success at the WGCChampions in China to a surprise from wife Erica in their new home in Florida.
‘We had just moved into our new house a couple of months ago but we still had not moved everything in and the trophy cabinet hadn’t been built,’ McIlroy said. ‘I got back from China and on the wall were all the trophies. It’s a nice reminder. All that stuff had been in storage for a year and a half, so the first time I had seen the Claret Jug and US Open trophy.
‘It’s a great motivator — I’ve done quite a lot but I want to do so much more.’
Spain’s Jon Rahm is three shots off the pace in Dubai after a 66, with Tommy Fleetwood and fellow Englishman Tom Lewis another stroke back.
Rahm and Fleetwood are among the five players who can end the week as European No.1 – McIlroy is not among them – but Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger leads the projected Race to Dubai standings after a battling 70.