Victor Perez holds a one-shot lead and also moves top of the projected Race to Dubai standings in the European Tour season finale; Patrick Reed three off the pace as he looks to become the first American winner of the Harry Vardon Trophy
Friday 11 December 2020 13:04, UK
Victor Perez holds a one-shot lead after the opening round of the DP World Tour Championship, where Robert MacIntyre and Matt Fitzpatrick are among the chasing pack.
Perez mixed six birdies with a sole bogey to card a five-under 67 in breezy conditions at Jumeriah Golf Estates, moving the Frenchman top of a congested leaderboard in the season finale.
MacIntyre and Fitzpatrick are both a shot off the pace in tied-second alongside Erik van Rooyen, while Tommy Fleetwood - one of four players who can guarantee ending the year as European No 1 with a victory - sits two off the pace with Tyrrell Hatton.
"In the position I'm in, I have nothing to lose," Perez said. "I have everything to gain. So for me, it's really a going-for-it mentality that I have to keep for four rounds.
"Obviously you still have to play proper golf and hit the right shots and sometimes take your medicine, but again, I have really nothing to lose, and it's a matter of making a lot of birdies."
Heading into the week sixth in the Race to Dubai standings, Perez saw a close-range birdie at the par-five second cancelled out with a bogey at the fourth before he made further birdies at the seventh and 10th.
Perez rolled in a 25-footer at the 11th and holed from off the 14th green using a five-wood over the bank, with another long-range birdie at the 17th moving the world No 37 into the outright lead.
Fitzpatrick was level-par at the turn but followed a birdie at the 10th with three in a four-hole stretch from the 14th to get within a shot of the lead, while MacIntyre birdied his first three holes on his way to a four-under 68.
A final-hole birdie jumped Fleetwood into tied-fifth with Hatton, who made three birdies in the space of five holes on his back nine, while Sami Valimaki - who made a hole-out eagle at the par-five last - and former Race to Dubai champion Martin Kaymer are also within two of the lead.
Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed is in the group on two under that also contains Lee Westwood, with PGA champion Collin Morikawa, the highest-ranked player in the field, opened with a level-par 72.
Watch the DP World Tour Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Friday from 7am on Sky Sports Golf.
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