McIlroy is chasing a fifth successive Race to Dubai triumph this week
DP World Tour Championship first-round leaderboard
-5 J Luiten (Ned); -4 JS Olesen (Den); -3 V Perez (Fra), G De Leo (Ita), F Schott (Ger), F Laporta (Ita), R McIlroy (NI)
Selected others: -2 T Hatton (Eng); -1 D Hillier (NZ), J Rahm (Spa); E E Chacarra (Spa), M Wallace (Eng); +2 E Ferguson (Sco), R Fox (NZ), C Jarvis (SA), J Schaper (SA); +3 P Reed (US); +4 T Fleetwood (Eng), A Rai (Eng)
Full leaderboard
Rory McIlroy made a strong start to his bid for a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title with a three-under-par opening round at the DP World Tour Championship.
The world number two, whose round included five birdies and two bogeys in windy conditions, is two shots behind early leader Joost Luiten.
Spain's Eugenio Chacarra, who leads McIlroy by 533.93 points in the Race to Dubai standings - with 2,000 available to this week's winner - opened with a level-par 72, while third-placed American Patrick Reed struggled during a 75.
"I think it was a pretty fair score," said six-time major winner McIlroy.
"I could probably stand here and argue that I could have been better, but I could probably stand here and argue that I could have been worse as well.
"I hit the ball well for the most part. It's tricky, the wind makes it tricky. The course set-up is a little more difficult than in previous years.
"The greens are not like Yas Links (in Abu Dhabi) last week. They're not absolutely perfect, so you've got to have your patience a little bit on them too. Overall, happy with the score."
Nine players - Chacarra, McIlroy, Reed, Casey Jarvis, Aaron Rai, Jon Rahm, Ryan Fox, Jayden Schaper and Daniel Hillier - can still clinch the Race to Dubai, but only Chacarra and McIlroy can guarantee the season-long accolade with victory at Jumeirah Golf Estates this week.
Northern Ireland's McIlroy, who is aiming to match Scotland's Colin Montgomerie's record of eight season-long crowns, birdied two of his opening four holes before giving a shot back at the fifth.
He birdied the seventh and 11th, and while he took six at the par-five 14th, he finished with a two-putt birdie four to end joint third.
"You can't win it on the first day, but you can certainly lose it," added McIlroy.
"I played nicely, so there was never any threat of me shooting a bad one.
"But it was possible today to go out there and shoot a couple over and feel like you were sort of out of the tournament.
"To get off to a solid start was very important."
Chacarra, who has won three times already this season, finished his front nine with three straight birdies to turn in two-under 34 but dropped shots at 13 and 15 to lie five back of Luiten.
Rahm, who catapulted himself into contention last week in Abu Dhabi, by winning his first tournament since leaving LIV Golf, mixed four birdies and three bogeys in an opening 71 to sit alongside New Zealand's Hillier.
Jarvis (+2), Schaper (+2), Fox (+2), Rai (+4) all have work to do, while England's Tommy Fleetwood also struggled in an opening 76.
Dutchman Luiten, the lowest-ranked player in the field, turned in five under but cancelled two birdies with two bogeys on the back nine to settle for a 67, one clear of Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen.
