Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry are part of a five-way tie for the lead after opening-round 64s at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
European Ryder Cup team-mates Fleetwood and Lowry – the 2019 champion – were joined in the clubhouse at eight-under by South Africa’s Richard Sterne, Adrien Saddier of France, and New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori.
The five leaders hold a one-shot advantage over seven players at seven-under, with Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy four shots back after carding a 68 at Yas Links.
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Ludvig Åberg sinks a hole-in-one on the eighth hole at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The star-studded leaderboard features Tyrrell Hatton at six-under with fellow Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick at five-under, a shot behind his brother Alex Fitzpatrick.
Marco Penge, McIlroy’s closest challenger in the Race to Dubai, carded an eagle and six birdies to finish a shot ahead of the Northern Irishman on five-under.
McIlroy was joined on four-under by Ludwig Åberg, who produced the shot of the day with a hole-in-one at the par-three eighth – his second career ace, following one at the 2025 Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines in February.
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Nick Dougherty and Wayne ‘Radar’ Riley review Rory McIlroy’s opening round 68 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as he seeks to claim a seventh Race to Dubai title.
Fleetwood’s superb season continued with a bogey-free opening round, as the FedExCup winner made four birdies on either nine to take a share of the lead.
Playing alongside Fleetwood, Lowry went one better with nine birdies but a sole bogey at the 12th ensured he finished on the same score as his Ryder Cup team-mate.
“It was nice,” said Lowry, who also played with Rasmus Hojgaard in round one. “I was pretty excited when I saw the group, my pairing today, and it was nice to go out there with the boys.
“I was paired with (Fleetwood) in India the first two days and I shot 64 as well. So yeah, something about me and Tommy. But no, I just like playing with him, [my] friend and really good player too.
“And you kind of feed off each other. It was nice.”
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McIlroy drives green with MONSTER 355-yard effort!
England’s Fleetwood, a two-time winner of this event, said: “I played well. I was very, very good off the tee and I think I made some good decisions off the tee.
“I felt very comfortable with the shots that I chose and I hit. I putted well. I think I made a big par save on the 12th and followed that with a birdie, which was I think a crucial part of the round if it’s going to be a very, very good round.
“It’s Thursday. You can obviously play your way out of it, you can’t win it, but eight under is a really nice way to start.”
McIlroy hopes ‘bad round is out the way’
Masters champion McIlroy made a strong start to reach four-under with two successive birdies to start his back nine, but had to settle for pars across the final seven holes.
McIlroy has a significant advantage at the top of the Race to Dubai rankings but opened his play-off round tee-off with a wayward shot into the rough.
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Rory McIlroy was disappointed he failed to capitalise on good opportunities after day one at the Abu Dhabi Championship.
In typical fashion, he was able to muscle it out onto the green to still make par, before producing birdies at the second and third holes.
McIlroy said: “I felt like I gave myself a lot of chances on the back nine and just didn’t really convert hitting good putts.
“Not to birdie the last, after where I was off tee, was a little disappointing but that was hopefully the bad round out of the way.”
As McIlroy looked ahead to his 7.50am tee off time on Friday, he added: “There’s three more rounds to try to take it a bit lower.”
What’s next?
Coverage of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship continues on Friday on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event from 4am, with round three starting at 4.30am on Saturday and Sunday’s final round starting at 3am.
The DP World Tour Play-Offs conclude with the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai from November 13.
You can follow every shot live on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event, with coverage beginning at 7am for the first three days and 6.30am for Sunday’s final round.
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