Rory McIlroy has a two shot lead after the opening day of the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai. The former World Number One won five times in 2012, including a second Major title by eight shots, to finish top of the money lists on both side of the Atlantic but has yet to taste victory this season.
He's down from first in the Official World Golf Ranking to sixth as a result and McIlroy is 62nd on The Race to Dubai so he needs to move into the top 60 this week to have a chance of qualifying for the DP World Tour Championship in November. McIlroy is less than €4,000 behind Garth Mulroy in 60th place, but will need to win much more than that to feel safe. The first prize of €1,012,145 would of course take care of everything and McIlroy took confidence from his one shot victory over Tiger Woods in their 18-hole exhibition match at Mission Hills on Monday, insisting he was more likely to win in Shanghai than miss out on a trip to Dubai.
The 24 year old opened with a seven under par 65 to lead Wales’ Jamie Donaldson and last week’s BMW Masters champion Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño by two. US Open Champion Justin Rose, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth and Tommy Fleetwood are a shot further back on four under and Graeme McDowell's well placed on 3 under par.
