Scott shines in Dubai as McIlroy homes in on Euro crown

Adam Scott is determined to enjoy a late-season flourish at the European tour's championship finale in Dubai after opening up with a "good solid start" on the tricky Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

The Australian veteran is lying just a couple of shots off the pace in joint-fourth place after shooting a three-under par 69 in Thursday's first round.

He's pursuing Rory McIlroy, already an overwhelming favourite to win the season-long 'Race to Dubai' Order of Merit title, who strengthened his hand further with a superb start, leading alongside English Ryder Cup teammate Tyrrell Hatton after 67s.

A top-10 finish would be enough for the Northern Irishman McIlroy to win the year-long points race for the sixth time, tying him with the late, great Seve Ballesteros and moving two behind Scot Colin Montgomerie's record haul of eight.

For 44-year-old Scott, though, competing at the venue for the first time in 15 years, it looked a fine opportunity to make his mark on what has proved a bit of an impressive comeback season for him as he's shot from 44th in the world rankings at the start of 2024 to 20th.

"I had a good run through the summer, found the confidence again and strung some good weeks together, got a bit closer to winning a tournament again, so it's been feeling good - and it's feeling good again this week," said Scott after his opener.

"It's a good solid start on a pretty tough course, and hopefully I've got three more in me."

The highlight of his round came at the 621-yard par-five 14th when he hit his 281-yard approach to within 10 feet and sank the eagle putt.

"It all felt pretty solid," said Scott. "Lucky the wind's not blowing because the rough is tough. The couple of times I went in it, I wasn't sure how to recover. But I wasn't in it too much and most of the day was fairly solid stuff."

One shot behind Scott was his compatriot Min Woo Lee, who also has a decent base after his two-under 70, lying tied for 11th.

Thriston Lawrence, the South African who's second in the Race to Dubai standings, is the only player who can catch McIlroy, but he opened with a 73, leaving him six strokes behind his rival already.

"I am under no illusions that that was probably Thriston's worst day," McIlroy said.

Lawrence has to win — nothing less is good enough — and then needs McIlroy to finish tied for 11th or lower.

Paul Waring, the winner in Abu Dhabi last week in the first event of the end-of-season playoffs, was third after a 68 and American golfer Billy Horschel was in a seven-way tie for fourth place, one stroke further back.

"I want to go on from here and win the golf tournament," McIlroy said. "I have opened with a really good score but I need to go out and play similarly over these next three days."

With Agencies