ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — All-time champions Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Rowley lead the Abu Dhabi Championship in a five-way tie after posting an eight-under 64 in Thursday’s opening round.
The Ryder Cup star, who joins Frenchman Adrian Sadier, New Zealander Kazuma Kobori and South African Richard Stern, is the only player in the field to also compete in the inaugural tournament in 2006.
Fleetwood, who won the tournament in 2017 and 2018, had eight birdies in the no-spot round, while Lowry, the 2019 champion, had nine birdies and one bogey.
“Today is Thursday. Of course you can play your way, but you can’t win, but to start at 8 under is really nice,” Fleetwood said.
Sadier made nine birdies in his first 16 holes and looked like he would take the lead by the afternoon, but he dropped a shot on the 17th hole.
Stern had two eagles but also had a lot of bogeys, while Kobori had a perfect first round with one eagle and six birdies.
There were seven players with a one-shot difference. 65 was produced by Alex Nolen, Andy Sullivan, Nikolai von Dellingshausen, Nikolai Hujgaard, Keita Nakajima, Michael Kim, and Nacho Elvira.
Ludwig Oberg made a hole-in-one on the par-3 8th by hitting his tee shot a few feet from the pin.
However, he and Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy finished the round four strokes off the lead.
