DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Rory McIlroy was already an awesome favourite to win the European tour’s season-long Race to Dubai title.
He made his possibilities even higher on Thursday.
McIlroy shot 5-under 67 and was tied for the lead with Tyrrell Hatton after the primary spherical of the season-ending World Tour Championship.
A top-10 end will assure McIlroy wins the year-long factors race — previously referred to as the Order of Advantage — for the sixth time, tying with the late Seve Ballesteros and transferring two behind Colin Montgomerie’s file haul.
Thriston Lawrence, the South African who’s second within the Race to Dubai standings behind McIlroy, is the one participant who can catch the Northern Irishman and opened with a 73, leaving him six strokes behind his rival already.
“I’m underneath no illusions that that was most likely Thriston’s worst day,” McIlroy mentioned.
Lawrence has to win — nothing much less is sweet sufficient — after which wants McIlroy to complete tied for eleventh or decrease.
Paul Waring, the winner in Abu Dhabi final week within the first occasion 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 additional again.
The No. 3-ranked McIlroy made six birdies, the spotlight approaching the par-3 seventeenth when he rolled in a 50-footer to hitch Hatton within the lead.
The par-5 final gap supplied a superb probability for McIlroy to take the outright lead, particularly after he break up the green. He leaked his method proper, failed to search out the inexperienced along with his third and narrowly missed his birdie try.
McIlroy was enjoying alongside Lawrence within the last group and mentioned he was pondering of greater than what the South African was doing.
“I need to go on from right here and win the golf event,” McIlroy mentioned. “I’ve opened with a extremely good rating however I have to exit and play equally over these subsequent three days.”
