Inicio McIlroy and Willett set up Dubai thriller

McIlroy and Willett set up Dubai thriller

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Rory McIlroy took a step towards successfully defending his Race to Dubai crown with a four under par 68 in the first round of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, where two-time Major Champion Martin Kaymer is part of a four-way tie for the lead.

McIlroy currently has a 1,614-point advantage at the top of the Race to Dubai over Danny Willett, who also opened with a 68, and the pair lie tied sixth at Jumeirah Golf Estates, two shots off the lead established by Kaymer, Marcus Fraser, Ian Poulter and Andy Sullivan.

The Northern Irishman, who holed a bunker shot for birdie on the final hole, needs to match what Willett does this week to be crowned European Number One for the third time in four seasons.

Crucially, none of the other five players who could still mathematically win the Race bettered the score set by McIlroy and Willett, with sixth-placed Branden Grace matching it, seventh-placed Byeong Hun An signing for a 70, third-placed Justin Rose carding a 71 and Shane Lowry (fourth) and Louis Oosthuizen (fifth) both slipping over par with respective rounds of 75 and 73.

Rory McIlroy

“That was a nice way to finish. It was a bit scrappy before that. I bogeyed the tenth hole and then got it back with a couple of good birdies straightaway. In between those birdies and the birdie at the last, there was a bit of ugly golf in there. But it’s nice to get around in 68. I felt like it was a little struggle at times out there but to produce something like that and obviously the way I finished makes it feel a lot better. I’m very close. I hit a lot of good shots out on the course but not as many as you’ve seen. Ball-striking tee-to-green for the most part has been very good, all throughout the year and it’s been the putter that held me back. But I felt like I putted well today, so that bodes well for the next three days.”

Danny Willett

“I went out there and played some pretty decent golf. A couple of little scrappy ones in there. Rory and I didn’t play our best although four under will put you right up there. Obviously it helped both of us shooting a good number. You can treat it a little bit like match play in that situation. Like I said in the press conference earlier in the week, you don’t want to play match play if you’re level par or one over par but as soon as you’re going along quite nicely, it ended up being a pretty good match.”

Martin Kaymer

“I played really solid. I didn’t make many mistakes really. I think I got a little unlucky on the par 3 where I hit it in the water on the sixth hole. Got a little wind of gust there, or the other way around, a gust of wind, but I saved bogey. I gave myself a lot of chances and I putted really well, so overall it was a very, very good round. We all know this is one of my favourite places where The European Tour goes; Abu Dhabi, Dubai, seems like I do well here usually and I’ve had great success in the past, whether it’s in Abu Dhabi winning a tournament, winning The Race to Dubai here in 2010. So for me coming to this part of the world is always a great pleasure.”

Marcus Fraser

“I felt like I played great, like I was in control of my game most of the day. Managed to make a couple of putts. The greens are that good; if you pick the right line and you hit it online, it’s going to go in. Pretty simple. Some of the best greens we can putt on. It’s always nice to get off to a fast start and kept it going. 16 is always a hard hole for me. Missed my drive and going in with a 3-iron, it was always going to be a bit tough. That’s the way it is. But did a lot of good out there, so it was good fun.

Ian Poulter

“It’s been a long season, and obviously the last five weeks has been difficult on the road, away from the family. But I’ve been playing some good golf. I played well last week and disappointed to miss a short birdie putt at 13 to kind of tie the lead. Then bogeying two of the last five or two of the last four is not what I wanted. But I played well today. Coming out, playing very solid. I didn’t take care of the par 5s today. Second, I missed a relatively easy birdie putt. Didn’t hole a three-foot birdie putt on 7 and I just missed a putt on the last. Although the round was good today, it was 6-under, I’m right up there and I’m walking off the golf course again just a little bit disappointed.”

Andy Sullivan

“It was just great fun out there today. Me and Martin (Kaymer) both played really well, so it was good to have both of us pulling each other along, one get in front of the other, and both finishing six under. I was swinging it really well on the range and I just said to myself, I’m the only person that can mess this up today. I just thought go out there and enjoy it like I normally do and be mentally good and I would be in for a good day, and fortunately enough I was. On the whole, really happy with where we stand.”

Round 1 scores