McIlroy puts down marker; Coulter’s slow start

Rory McIlroy put down a marker in his bid for his eighth Race to Dubai crown when he opened one of just seven rounds in the sixties at the DP World Tour Championship in windy Dubai.

The Masters champion hit two stellar shots to the 18th and two-putted for birdie and a three-under 69 that left him tied for third, just two strokes behind the Netherlands’ Joost Luiten.

While it wasn’t enough to leapfrog Race to Dubai leader Eugenio Chacarra in the projected standings, McIlroy’s round was one of the best on a blustery day at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Playing alongside Chacarra, who shot 72 to share 23rd place, McIlroy’s driver was once again his biggest asset at a venue where he’s won three times and finished outside the top 10 just three times in 15 appearances.

“Yeah, very pleased,” said McIlroy, who needs to finish solo fourth or higher to overtake Chacarra and match Colin Montgomerie's record of eight Order of Merit titles.

“As you said, it was tricky. Windier than it usually is. And then I think with the golf course setup this week, with the more punishing rough, especially off the tee, some of the crosswinds off tees, I felt like I did well to hit most of the fairways.

“But once you start missing fairways here, you really make it difficult for yourself. So anything in the 60s today, I felt was a good score. And sort of held it together nicely when I needed to.

The six-time Major winner mixed five birdies with two bogeys and had a 13-footer for eagle at the last that would have moved him into a tie for second and to the top of the projected rankings had it dropped.

“It was nice to finish with a birdie at the last, and obviously in a pretty good position going into the next few days,” McIlroy added.

He will win the Race to Dubai if he wins on Sunday or finishes second and Chacarra or Patrick Reed, who played himself out of contention with a 75 for 41st place, do not win.

McIlroy turned in two-under par 34 despite three putting the second for par and the fifth for bogey.

He went on to follow a birdie at the 11th with a bogey six at the 14th but finished in style, ripping a fairway wood to 13 feet at the 18th as Chacarra’s drive hit a rock in the creek and bounced to safety.

The Spaniard knows he has to keep McIlroy in his sights, and he was pleased with his opening effort alongside the world number two, despite making four bogeys.

“Proud of the fight,” Chacarra said. “Obviously, a lot of things to do better. I think maybe a couple of mistakes strategy-wise… I’m making birdies, I'm playing good, the good's good, I just need to be able to clean the card a little in the next couple of days.”

Nine players entered the week with a mathematical chance of winning the Race to Dubai but only Jon Rahm and Patrick Hillier joined McIlroy in breaking par with 71s.

Rahm can win the Race to Dubai if he wins and Chacarra finishes ninth or worse, McIlroy is third or worse, and Reed is third or worse.

But other things are at stake this week, including the battle for 10 PGA Tour cards.

Leader Luiten, who was the last man into the 50-man field, can snatch promotion if he wins his seventh DP World Tour title on Sunday.

His five-under 67 gave him a one-shot lead over Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen, putting him in position to leap from 56th to sixth in the rankings.

“I said to my caddie, bro, we can only go up this week, you know?” Luiten said. “We’re last man in; we've got nothing to lose, so let's go for it. And it worked out so far.”

At the Santander Golf Tour - Girona on the LET Access Series, Kirkistown Castle’s Beth Coulter made a slow start as she bids to win her Ladies European Tour card in her rookie season.

With two events remaining, the Co Down golfer is 10th in the rankings, with the top seven in the final standings earning promotion to the main tour.

But she opened with a 73 at Emporda Golf Club to share 51st on two-over-par, eight shots behind Iceland’s Ragga Kristinsdottir.

Coulter, who has already clinched an exemption into the final stage of the LET Qualifying School after winning in her first professional start at the Women’s Irish Challenge, hopes to avoid the trip to Morocco with a strong finish to the season.

"People at home keep asking me, what's it going to take to get in the top seven," Coulter said on her arrival in Spain. "It's hard to know. There's so many of us that if we won in the next two events, it would obviously bump us up a lot.

“I think probably just focusing on myself and giving myself a chance is all I can really do.”