Rory McIlroy was already an overwhelming favorite to win the European tour’s season-long Race to Dubai title.

He made his chances even better.

McIlroy shot 5-under 67 and was tied for the lead with Tyrrell Hatton on Thursday after the first round of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

A top-10 finish will guarantee McIlroy wins the year-long points race — formerly known as the Order of Merit — for the sixth time, tying with the late Seve Ballesteros and moving two behind Colin Montgomerie’s record haul.

Thriston Lawrence, the South African who is second in the Race to Dubai standings behind McIlroy, is the only player who can catch the Northern Irishman and opened with a 73, leaving him six strokes behind his rival already.

Lawrence has to win — nothing less is good enough — and then needs McIlroy to finish tied for 11th or lower.

Paul Waring, the winner in Abu Dhabi last week in the first event of the end-of-season playoffs, was alone in third place after a 68 and American golfer Billy Horschel was in a seven-way tie for fourth place.

PGA Tour

Hayden Springer birdied three of his last four holes for a 6-under 65 in Southampton, Bermuda, giving him a share of the lead with Justin Lower before darkness kept the opening round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship from finishing.

Springer needed a start like this with only two tournaments left in the PGA Tour season. He came to Bermuda at No. 125 in the FedEx Cup, the cutoff for keeping full status for 2025.

Lower is safe at No. 95 and brought good form to the island in the middle of the Atlantic, coming off a runner-up finish in Mexico last week.

They were one shot ahead of Patrick Rodgers, Joseph Bramlett and Kevin Dougherty, who still had the 18th hole at Port Royal to play to complete his round.

LPGA tour

Charley Hull, fresh off her first victory in more than two years, didn’t lose her form from Saudi Arabia to Florida in opening with a 6-under 64 to share the lead with Jiwon Jeon after the first round of The Annika in Belleair, Fla.

Nelly Korda hasn’t lost much from being out of competition for nearly two months. The No. 1 player in the women’s world ranking had four birdies over her last five holes to salvage a 66.