After the first round of the DP World Tour Championship, it is an American who tops the leaderboard at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. Michael Kim was flawless across his first 18 holes of play at the Earth Course and signed for an opening 8-under 64 to position himself one clear of Tommy Fleetwood. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy leads a pack at 6 under that includes Thirston Lawrence and Andy Sullivan.
“Just had everything going,” Kim said. “Drove it in the fairway enough times, and I hit my irons really great, and was able to roll some putts in.”
Kim’s start in Dubai marks just his 10th in the Race to Dubai, which takes into account the four major championships as well as the co-sanctioned Scottish Open on the PGA Tour. Using this time of the season to travel around the world while playing golf, the 32-year-old has enjoyed his time both inside and outside the ropes. A win at the Open de France the week before the Ryder Cup positioned Kim to vie for playoff contention and another top-10 finish at the India Championship secured his place in the season finale.
Much like his travels, Kim eased his way into his first round with three birdies scattered across his first nine holes. He found a different gear, however, once he made the turn and rattled off five par breakers in a six-hole stretch to assert himself atop the leaderboard.
“[I enjoy] that we get to go to fantastic different countries,” Kim said. “The PGA Tour mostly sticks inside the United States, which is great, but coming to places like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, France. I personally really enjoy the travel. The competition is still great, and I thoroughly enjoy my time here.”
Kim will look to put an exclamation point on what has been the best season of his career, as will Fleetwood. The Englishman was at it again with a bogey-free effort of his own en route to a first-round 65.
A first-round leader last week at Yas Links in the Abu Dhabi Championship, Fleetwood finds himself firmly in the mix after the opening refrain for the third straight tournament when going back to his win at the India Championship. Like Kim, Fleetwood also made the most of his day at the onset of the back nine where he added five circles to his scorecard in a six-hole stretch.
A win on Sunday would make Fleetwood the second player to win the Tour Championship and the DP World Tour Championship — the tournaments, not the season-long competitions — in the same season.
“We’ve been chipping away for a long time,” Fleetwood said. “We’ve played very consistently for a long time and now we’re just having a great run. Hopefully it’s not just a great run and this is how I play golf, but we’ve got to see what happens in the future. I think always trying to consistently improve day in, day out, no matter how little that step may be, always try and do that. Every now and again, you get lucky and it shows.”
Fleetwood is out of contention for the Race to Dubai title like most of the field, and on Thursday, McIlroy made it even more difficult for those who entered the week with a heartbeat in the season-long race. The Northern Irishman carded his lowest opening round at the Earth Course since 2021 with his 66.
The performance was just about good enough to put the Race to Dubai on ice when coupled with Marco Penge — who needs to finish in at least second place — and his 74 to sit at T46 and Tyrrell Hatton’s 70 to sit at T22. Plenty can still transpire over the course of the next 54 holes, but through one round, McIlroy is sitting pretty and with one hand on his fourth straight Race to Dubai and the seventh of his career.
“I felt like that was probably one of the best sort of approach play rounds I’ve had in a long time,” McIlroy said. “My wedge play felt really sharp. Had a lot of good iron shots. I feel like I don’t want to sound like I’m that disappointed but I feel like I left a few out there. I missed a couple of short ones. Overall, it was a really solid start on a golf course that I’m very comfortable on and historically I’ve played very well on.”