Lowry, Fleetwood part of five-way tie at the top after first round in Abu Dhabi

The Ryder Cup stars, who played alongside each other on Thursday, shared the lead with New Zealand's Kazuma Kobori, South African Richard Sterne and Frenchman Adrien Saddier on eight under par.

Reigning FedEx Cup champion Fleetwood carded eight birdies and no bogeys, while Lowry fired nine birdies and dropped a single shot.

Saddier briefly got to nine under in the afternoon after reeling off nine birdies over his first 16 holes but a bogey on the 17th saw him slip back into a share of the lead.

Sterne, who finished second behind winner Lowry at the 2019 edition of this event, made two eagles in his opening round and saved his best until last as he holed from 75 feet for a three on the par-five 18th.

Kobori, meanwhile, made an eagle and six birdies in a flawless first-round effort.

There were seven players one shot further back, with Alex Noren, Andy Sullivan, Nicolai von Dellingshausen, Nicolai Højgaard, Keita Nakajima, Michael Kim and Nacho Elvira all producing 65s.

Co-leader Fleetwood said: "I played well. I was very, very good off the tee and I think I made some good decisions off the tee.

"I felt very comfortable with the shots that I chose and I hit. I putted well. I think I made a big par save on the 12th and followed that with a birdie, which was I think a crucial part of the round if it's going to be a very, very good round.

"It's Thursday. You can obviously play your way out of it. You can't win it, but eight under is a really nice way to start."

Lowry turned in 32 after making four front-nine birdies. He then picked up five more shots on the back nine, with his only blemish coming at the 12th.

He said: "I just like the place. The condition of it is amazing, and I just see my way around here pretty well. Hopefully I can put four rounds together this week."

Sterne turned in 29 after making an eagle and five birdies on the front. His back nine was mixed but he closed the round in style, holing a monster eagle putt.

He said: "I was confusing the line to be honest. I wasn't quite sure what was happening but obviously read it correctly and got a bit lucky and just hit a perfect putt, really."