A quartet of players are tied at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the 35th edition of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

Chinese Haotong Li, England’s Andy Sullivan, American Cameron Young and Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard all shot opening rounds on Thursday at the Majlis Course of five under 67.

It’s a venue that’s a happy hunting ground for Haotong, as the 28-year-old, overcame Rory McIlroy on this very course six years ago to claim his then second DP World Tour title, “I can’t believe it’s six years ago,” said Li “I just had a lot of great memories and hopefully, I can continue to do some magic here.”

Sullivan who was bogey-free with his 67, remains positive despite a change in his team and coming back into competition after four weeks off. “I’ve gone back with working with Jamie Gough and just got back to hitting my little fades and being good at what I’m doing. I’m never going to be a bomber, so it’s about control for me and try and do that again.”

A hero finish for Cameron Young, who is in the tournament on an invite, in his opening round. Staying patient through his front nine, a birdie-birdie-eagle finish in his closing three holes pushed him up 26 spots. “I think it kind of helped me to just wait for those (shots) to come, knowing that even or one over through the front nine isn’t bad and you have a chance to shoot, two or three (birdies), and to make those birdies and eagle on the last was tremendous.”

Dane Rasmus Højgaard, who has four DP World Tour victories to his name, is looking to be sharper going forward out on the Majlis, “Out here it is very much a ball-striking golf course. If you hit it straight off the tee and you hit it on the greens, you can give yourself some good chances.”

The four players lead by one stroke from seven others which includes Dubai based Adrian Meronk and Thorbørn Olesen. While making up the remaining five spots at four under is Rasmus’ brother Nicolai, fellow Dane Soren Kjeldsen, England’s Richard Mansell, Spain’s Sebastain Garcia and South African Louis de Jager.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy, who is looking for his fourth Dallah trophy, shot a one-under-par 71 to get his defence underway in Dubai.

Play was suspended due to darkness with three groups still with their opening round remaining. They will resume on Friday morning at 07:45 with round two starting on time.

Image: Getty