Dubai Desert Classic: Daniel Hillier continues fine form as Francesco Molinari leads after round one

Daniel Hillier of New Zealand plays his second shot on the 18th hole during day one of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Photo / Getty Images

Daniel Hillier had an eagle to continue his strong start to 2026, shooting a two-under 70 to sit five back from leader Francesco Molinari after the first day of the Dubai Desert Classic.

The Kiwi trio of Hillier (two-under), Ryan Fox (even) and Kazuma Kobori (even) all sit in the top half of the field of a tournament that features a $15.2 million total prize purse.

Hillier, one of the later starters, sits in a share of 12th place after a round that featured two birdies, two bogeys and an eagle at the par five 10th after sticking his second from 211m out to about two metres of the hole.

Hillier, who is coming off a second placing at last week’s Dubai Invitational, bettered his playing partners in Ryder Cup winner and seven-time PGA Tour champion Viktor Hovland (one-over) and two-time major winner Dustin Johnson (two-over).

Both Kobori and Fox had up-and-down rounds mixed with four birdies and four bogeys each to sit in 41st place.

Molinari powered into a two-shot lead, as four-time champion Rory McIlroy stumbled to an over-par round.

Former British Open champion Molinari, now 418th in the world rankings, made eight birdies in a seven-under par 65.

The 43-year-old Italian is two shots clear of Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg, with Swiss player Joel Girrbach and South African JC Ritchie a stroke further back.

It was Molinari’s lowest round on the European Tour since January 2024.

“It’s been a long time. I’ve changed everything and then I’ve changed back,” said the 2018 Ryder Cup winner, who has not won a professional title since the Arnold Palmer Invitational seven years ago.

“Not super unexpected but I wasn’t expecting a score like that. Last week I felt very rusty, so I was hoping it would be very good prep for this week.”

Molinari will have plenty of work to do to hang on to his lead with a host of top players in the field this week.

Shane Lowry and defending champion Tyrrell Hatton, who played starring roles in Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph at Bethpage Black last year, both made solid starts with two-under rounds of 70.

“Standing here right now, I’m very happy with that score,” said England’s Hatton after his first competitive round of the year.

“It was pretty tough this morning. Feel like I hit some pretty scruffy golf shots, which in some ways is to be expected.”

It was a disappointing day, though, for McIlroy, who hit his approach shot on the par-five 18th hole into the water en route to a closing double-bogey.

The Masters champion had earlier mixed three birdies with two bogeys.

McIlroy will need to make a move on Friday to get into contention for a fifth title in the event, as will world No 3 Tommy Fleetwood who also carded a one-over 73.

- With AFP