World Number One Rory McIlroy made the ideal start as he set off in pursuit of his fifth win of the season in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Thursday.
With the players going out in reverse order according to their positions on The Race to Dubai, McIlroy and defending champion Henrik Stenson were in the final group out at 12.30 local time, just as Scotland's Richie Ramsay was putting the finishing touches to an opening 67.
McIlroy, who wrapped up The Race to Dubai title for the second time in three years with a week to spare, holed from ten feet for a birdie on the first and also picked up a shot on the par five second.
After missing from close range on the third, McIlroy made no such mistake on the fourth and fifth to move to four under alongside Argentina's Emiliano Grillo, who had completed an opening 68.
Ramsay had birdied the first three holes and then carded ten straight pars before picking up further shots on the 14th and 15th, and was joined by Denmark's Thorbjørn Olesen as clubhouse leader on five under.
Olesen had been seven under with three holes to play, the winner of the recent ISPS Handa Perth International following two early birdies with four in succession from the seventh and another on the 14th before running up a double-bogey six on the 16th.
Speaking about his round, Ramsay said: "I'm really happy. Obviously it was a great start, three birdies on the spin, and then played lovely in the middle, had a lot of chances but just didn't take a few.
"But most important was I stayed patient, stayed with it. I kept on hitting good shots and then took a couple of chances on 14 and 15 and then finished off pretty solid coming down the stretch.
"I played great in the middle part of the season. I know the game is there. (It's) just a matter of staying out of my own way and committing to it."
