DP World Tour Championship first-round leaderboard
-5 J Luiten (Ned); -4 JS Olesen (Den); -3 V Perez (Fra), G De Leo (Ita), F Schott (Ger), F Laporta (Ita), R McIlroy (NI)
Selected others: -2 T Hatton (Eng); -1 D Hillier (NZ), J Rahm (Spa); E E Chacarra (Spa), M Wallace (Eng); +2 E Ferguson (Sco), R Fox (NZ), C Jarvis (SA), J Schaper (SA); +3 P Reed (US); +4 T Fleetwood (Eng), A Rai (Eng)
Rory McIlroy made a strong start to his bid for a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title with a three-under-par opening round at the DP World Tour Championship.
The world number two, whose round included five birdies and two bogeys in windy conditions, is two shots behind early leader Joost Luiten.
Spain's Eugenio Chacarra, who leads McIlroy by 533.93 points in the Race to Dubai standings - with 2,000 available to this week's winner - opened with a level-par 72, while third-placed American Patrick Reed struggled during a 75.
"I think it was a pretty fair score," said six-time major winner McIlroy.
"I could probably stand here and argue that I could have been better, but I could probably stand here and argue that I could have been worse as well.
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