Joost Luiten fired his lowest round at the Earth Course since 2016 to earn a one-shot lead over Jacob Skov Olesen after the opening round of the DP World Tour Championship.
As the last man to earn his place in the 50-man field, Luiten got the DP World Tour Championship under way with the opening tee shot and quickly set the pace on his way to a five-under 67.
Related: Chacarra chasing spot aamong greats in Dubai
Heading into this week at 56th on the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World, the Dutchman admitted he had nothing to lose as he strung together seven birdies and two bogeys and is now currently projected as high as fourth.
Following an opening par, Luiten made back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes and another at the fifth to move out in front of playing partner Victor Perez, who had also made two birdies in his first three holes.
The six-time DP World Tour winner then capped off an opening nine of 31 with back-to-back birdies to reach five-under at the turn, before bouncing back from bogeys at the 11th and 12th holes with another gain at the 13th. A final birdie of the day at the last led him to an opening 67.
While Luiten isn’t in the running for the Race to Dubai title, he is currently projected to move as high as fourth, which would guarantee him one of the ten cards offering dual membership on the PGA Tour next season.
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Another player with plenty to play for this week is Olesen, who also birdied his final hole of the day to card a four-under par 68.
One shot behind Luiten following a front-nine 31, Olesen briefly held a share of the lead after a birdie at the 11th before handing back shots at both the 12th and 15th to sit two behind heading to the last hole.
At tenth in the Race to Dubai, Olesen is one of nine players who could end this week as the season-long champion, though he does need to win the tournament to have a chance at scooping both honours this week.
Rory McIlroy headlines a group one shot further back, alongside Perez, Gregorio De Leo, Freddy Schott and Francesco Laporta, having made a birdie on his final hole to card an opening 69.
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McIlroy needs to finish solo fourth or higher to have a chance of overtaking Eugenio Chacarra and matching Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight Order of Merit titles.
The six-time Major winner mixed five birdies with two bogeys during his opening round, and had a chance for eagle at the last – which would have moved him into a tie for second and to the top of the projected rankings – but his effort came up short.
Race to Dubai leader Chacarra, who is making just his second appearance at the season finale, had mixed fortunes on day one, making four birdies and four bogeys for a level par 72.
Player Quotes
Joost Luiten: Good opening round, had a great front 9, you know, 5-under after 9, and then you hope you can push on. But the wind picked up, and I made two annoying bogeys on 11 and 12, which especially on 11 wasn’t really needed. But, you know, it happens in these conditions.
And I’m quite happy finishing 5-under because coming in it’s tricky.
Well, the wind picked up, and there’s just a couple of really tricky holes on there. Like 12, 15, 16, 17, 18 are just tricky holes into the wind. So, you know, you’ve got to hit some good shots there and keep it in the fairway.
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And, you know, I made two little mistakes, and then all of a sudden you’ve got two bogeys. But that’s this golf course.
Par-5, straight into the wind (on 18), and it was blowing. So I had a good drive, and then, you know, decision, are you going for it or laying up? So I decided to lay up and not take any risk. And then I had a good wedge in to about seven or eight feet and rolled in a nice birdie putt to finish.
I said to my caddie, bro, we can only go up this week, you know? We’re last man in, we’ve got nothing to lose, so let’s go for it. And it worked out so far.
