English golfer Tommy Fleetwood carded course record-equalling 10 under par 62 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. The Championship is the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs and penultimate event of the 2024 Race to Dubai. Fleetwood, already a two-time winner of this tournament after claiming back-to-back victories in 2017 and 2018, carded eight birdies and an eagle on a low-scoring day at Yas Links to finish one stroke ahead of former Ryder Cup teammate Thorbjorn Olesen and America’s Johannes Veerman. The 33-year-old, a seven-time DP World Tour winner, was four under after only three holes with a birdie, eagle, birdie start, and he made six further gains as he signed for a bogey-free round, rolling in a final birdie at the last to take the outright lead. “Just happy to have got off to a great start. I didn’t feel like I swung it perfectly early on and I actually felt like I started playing better as the round got to the back nine,” Fleetwood said. The wind picked up a little bit, the Englishman said, but overall it was fairly calm. “I think the course, fairways, are playing fast,” he […]