Nicolai Højgaard produced a back-nine birdie blitz to hitch French duo Julien Guerrier and Matthieu Pavon on the prime of the leaderboard after day one of many season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
The Ryder Cup star was one over after six holes and degree par as he made the flip at Jumeirah Golf Estates however reeled off 5 birdies in six holes to signal for a 67 and get to 5 underneath.
Earth course debutant Guerrier went bogey-free on the fifth and last Rolex Sequence occasion of the season to take the early lead, earlier than in-form countryman Pavon completed birdie-birdie to hitch him with a blemish-free effort of his personal.
Dane Højgaard completed fourth over the Earth course in his solely earlier look at this occasion in 2021, catapulting himself into the highest ten on that season’s last Rankings.
Seven prime tens within the 2023 season helped him earn his place within the European Staff that defeated america in Rome and he had his greatest end of the marketing campaign ending second finally week’s Nedbank Championship.
Pavon not too long ago claimed his first DP World Tour title on the acciona Open de España offered by Madrid and has since added two additional prime 20s in his final three occasions, whereas Guerrier is making his first look on the season-ending occasion.
One other Frenchman in Antoine Rozner was a shot off the lead at 4 underneath par alongside Swede Jens Dantorp and Pole Adrian Meronk. Højgaard’s Ryder Cup team-mates Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland and Robert MacIntyre had been a shot additional again at three underneath alongside South Korea’s Tom Kim.
As a result of climate forecast, spherical two of the DP World Tour Championship will probably be a two-tee begin, U draw on Friday from 11:00am native time.
Spherical one of many G4D Tour Season Finale @ DP World Tour Championship will probably be performed over 9 holes ranging from the tenth tee at 10:15am.
Participant quotes
Nicolai Højgaard: I performed very well right now. Drove it effectively from gap No. 1 to 18, regardless that it was a bit of little bit of a circus on 18, felt actually strong. Obtained on a run. You recognize there’s a number of possibilities on the market, so it’s nearly hold hitting good photographs and keep current, and I really feel I did job right now.
There’s a whole lot of drivers on the market however there are specific pins the place you need full photographs, particularly with the firmness of the greens now. They’re fairly agency and also you want some spin. You want — the green is premium, however I really feel like this can be a driver golf course and I really feel like I hit it fairly good right now.
(The Ryder Cup) was big. Spending time with one of the best gamers on the planet, preventing for a typical aim was wonderful, and simply being round these guys, seeing what they do, what do I do completely different, what do I have to work on. It gave me a whole lot of confidence going into the final finish of the season right here. You need to play with these guys however you additionally need to beat them.
Matthieu Pavon: That’s a pleasant feeling. That’s the longest putt I made right now (on 18), so it’s all the time good to finish like this. It’s such a pleasant gap to complete with. More than happy with right now.
Yeah, it has been some good weeks to this point. Nedbank was good. Simply didn’t shut it the way in which I wished on Sunday, and clearly this spherical was very strong. I believe the golf course is much less scary off the tee to be truthful. It appears very large, even when among the fairways will be tight at some factors. Simply continued to play effectively right now.
To be truthful, the one weight which is absolutely launched is now I do know with my group, we had been engaged on the proper means. For certain, I had an ideal, strong yr, many Prime 10s however I used to be lacking one thing to get my first victory, and I lastly acquired it in Madrid.
Julien Guerrier: I simply tried to be actually disciplined as a result of I don’t actually know this course. My caddie has extra expertise on this course than me, so I simply take heed to him. I attempt to keep within the zone and I did it appropriately.
It’s a very robust course. It’s very demanding from the tee as a result of in case you are within the tough, it’s actually tough to hit the greens. I used to be struggling throughout my practise spherical to discover a solution to form across the inexperienced, after which even the wedge photographs, it’s not straightforward, so I attempted to handle that.
