HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship: Scott Jamieson leads early on as Rory McIlroy at level par

Scotland's Scott Jamieson produced a superb round of nine under par to lead the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The 38-year-old was bogey-free and found nine birdies at the Yas Links course to set the early pace on day one of the DP World Tour's season-opener.

Defending champion Tyrrell Hatton is at six under, with fellow Englishman James Morrison and France's Victor Perez.

Ian Poulter and Tommy Fleetwood — who won the tournament in 2017 and 2018 — are among the later starters.

World-number-eight Rory McIlroy began his tournament with a round of level par after matching four birdies with as many bogeys.

After signing for a round of 63 world number 336 Jamieson said: «Eight weeks without tournament golf, I birdied the first and it settled any edge there was. It was just really solid all day.

»This is probably the first off season where I didn't figure out how to get better in the off season. I was pretty comfortable with where my game was, I just had to hope it turned up again eight weeks later.

«I kept telling myself you have to hit the ground running here as it can ultimately dictate your season. If you miss the first couple of cuts of the year you can suddenly feel you're miles behind.»

Jamieson tied for 13th in his last start at the Dubai Championship in November.