Three big winners emerged as the favorites to claim the DP World Tour Championship earlier this week and one of them co-led in Dubai after Round 1 as the DP World Tour season draws to a close. Matt Fitzpatrick, who won two of the last six season-ending tournaments on this course, hit a 7 under 65 and drew with Tyrrell Hatton after 18 holes.
For a while, it looked like it could be even better than that. Fitzpatrick birdie the first 5 holes before cooling down and playing the next 13 holes with just 2 points below. Still, it was an ideal start for the defending US Open champion as he wanted to end a spectacular year with a second win and potentially his first Harry Vardon trophy, awarded for the top player of the DP World Tour season. race points.
“I laughed honestly [about the hot start],” said Fiztpatrick. “I told [caddie] Billy [Foster] yesterday, ‘When we won in 2020, didn’t we have four games in a row?’ Then we did it four times in a row and we laughed about it, then I did it the fifth time. It’s a good start to the day.”
Hatton, too, had a good start to the day. He scored four of the first seven, and then four more before taking the only billiard shot of the day (a six on the 18th hole). He drew with Fitzpatrick for a mistake in the final game but is still well positioned to get his first win since Abu Dhabi in early 2021.
“I was surprised to learn it was my lowest lap at the start [at this event]’, said Hatton. ‘Obviously it was a good day. Hit a lot of good shots. Putter is great. Kind of happy with that beginning. Although my head is a bit confused right now. My mind is just raging at the end there. But that’s what it is.”
Those two lead the resurgent Alex Noren by one point and Adri Arnaus by two, but the bigger names and scarier players are further back. Tommy Fleetwood is four points behind; Jon Rahm is 2 years younger; Rory McIlroy’s pre-tournament favorite is 1 under; Shane Lowry more than 1; and Viktor Hovland over 2 years old. That’s a lot of basis for nearly everyone in this group to compete against two Ryder Cup level players like Fitzpatrick and Hatton.
“I play well here,” McIlroy said. “[I was] 3 bottom through eight holes. I don’t – it’s not far away. Not that there is anything that I need to work on drastically. And yes, thankfully there are three rounds left, go out and shoot a good one tomorrow and get ready for the weekend.”
Silver lining for double McIlroy. First, there’s plenty of time left to build a lot of ground, and he’s probably the best ever on this course (though Fitzpatrick is also excellent). Second, McIlroy is just behind Fitzpatrick in the season-long scoring race. Even if Fitzpatrick wins, McIlroy could still win the race by finishing second in the field.
Despite that, the tune was set by the two Britons for this week’s tournament. Several other superstars are chasing, but taking out one of Hatton and Fitzpatrick will be tough. To get two of them, if it happened, would be an extraordinary feat.
DP World Championship Odds
- Matt Fitzpatrick: +230
- Tyrrell Hatton: +450
- Rory McIlroy: +750
- Alex Noren: 9-1
- Jon Rahm: 9-1
- Tommy Fleetwood: 11-1
Fitzpatrick and McIlroy have changed positions here. McIlroy took a 3-1 lead to win this week, and Fitzpatrick led 9-1 to his 65 in the first half. I hesitated about players outside of Hatton because of the quality of the top two and I’m glad I picked Fitzpatrick 9-1. However, if I had to pick someone other than the top two, I’d pick Fleetwood, who was about to win last week in South Africa and only finished three.
