Jamieson takes early Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship lead

Scott Jamieson took a one-stroke overnight lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the opening Rolex Series event of the 2022 DP World Tour season.

The 38-year-old's first and only victory came nine years ago at the Nelson Mandela Championship presented by ISPS HANDA, but the Scot has had some strong form at this event in his last three appearances - his worst finish since 2019 is tied 16th.

Jamieson registered a new course record at Yas Links - which hosts the event for the first time this week - as he carded a bogey-free nine under par 63 to move one shot clear of the field, some of whom were yet to finish their opening rounds when play was suspended due to darkness.

Viktor Hovland, who made his Ryder Cup debut last year and has already claimed three PGA TOUR titles since turning professional in 2019, signed for 64 to sit in second place outright, while Thomas Pieters was another shot further back in on seven under par.

UAE-based Josh Hill, who won the Abu Dhabi Amateur Championship in December to qualify for this tournament, shot a one-under par 71 in today's opening round to boost the 17-year-old amateur's hopes of making the cut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Emirati amateur Ahmad Skaik finished one-over-par through 17 holes as fading light halted proceedings prematurely on day one at Yas Links, while fellow countryman Ahmed Al-Musharrekh finished 7-over-par.

Defending Champion Tyrrell Hatton and Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter were two of the five players in a share of fourth place before the klaxon was sounded.

Round One will restart at 7:45am local time Friday morning.

After his record-breaking round, Jamieson said: "It was just really solid all day to be honest. It's eight weeks off from tournament golf out here so you're always a little bit on edge at the start of the day, but birdie at the first kind of settled any edge there was and it was just really solid all day and one tee shot wasn't very good but I got lucky and recovered well."

Defending champion, Hatton said: "I'm quite surprised how I scored today. It didn't actually feel like I played that well. I think I was bogey-free as well. Yeah, it's a good way to start.

"Hopefully I drive the ball a bit better tomorrow. We're going to have pretty windy conditions and I think I'm going to have to play a bit better than I did today."

Day 1 highlights 📹#HSBCGolf #ADGolfChamps #RolexSeries #YasIsland pic.twitter.com/Zo7nGegrFC

— Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (@ADGolfChamps) January 20, 2022