The first Rolex Series event on the 2024 DP World Tour calendar has a field to match the occasion - and $9m prize money payout - with some of the world's best players in attendance.
The headliner, as in last week's Dubai Invitational, is four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy. The Ulsterman is looking for his fourth title at the event, and he put himself in a decent position to do so in round one alongside his Ryder Cup teammate Nicolai Hojgaard and former World No.1 Adam Scott.
Sitting fours shots behind the leaders in a tightly-packed leaderboard, McIlroy fired an opening 71 to kick off his tournament as Scott went two shots better to sit in a tie for 12th. Meanwhile, Hojgaard is just a single stroke off the lead thanks to a brilliant first round of four-under. The trio will hope to continue their strong form when they go out at 3.30am ET (8.30am GMT) on Friday.
While plenty of attention will be on that group, it's far from the only one that stands out. The player who edged McIlroy to victory in last week's tournament, Tommy Fleetwood, began his challenge with a round of 69 on Thursday alongside Cameron Young and Ryan Fox. Young is one of four co-leaders on five-under, but New Zealander, Fox struggled on the opening day and posted a 75. That trio will be teeing it up at 11.00pm ET (4.00am GMT) in the second round.
Tommy Fleetwood is looking for back-to-back wins on the DP World Tour
Elsewhere, former LIV Golf player Bernd Wiesberger made his DP World Tour return in a group with Paul Waring and Aaron Cockerill, with the group enduring mixed fortunes on Thursday. Wiesberger and Waring both shot 74 while Cockerill carded a 71 and sits alongside McIlroy in a tie for 27th. They are due to get started at 11.10pm ET (4.10am GMT) in the second round.
Haotong Li, one of the four on five-under, tees off at 3:20am ET (8:20am GMT) while his leaderboard-topping rival Andy Sullivan begins at 10:30pm (3:30am GMT). And Rasmus Hojgaard, who currently leads his brother Nicolai by a shot, gets underway at 11:10pm (4:10am GMT).
Below is the complete list of tee times and groupings for round two of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
Hero Dubai Desert Classic Tee Times - Round Two
1ST TEE
| ET (GMT) | Row 0 - Cell 1 | Row 0 - Cell 2 | Row 0 - Cell 3 |
| 10.10pm (3.10am) | Scalise, Lorenzo | Blomme, Adam | Kofstad, Espen |
| 10.20pm (3.20am) | Morrison, James | Sordet, Clément | Scrivener, Jason |
| 10.30pm (3.30am) | Baldwin, Matthew | Sullivan, Andy | Molinari, Edoardo |
| 10.40pm (3.40am) | Du Plessis, Hennie | Jordan, Matthew | De Jager, Louis |
| 10.50pm (3.50am) | Shinkwin, Callum | Samooja, Kalle | Dantorp, Jens |
| 11.00pm (4.00am) | Hill, Calum | Elvira, Manuel | Frittelli, Dylan |
| 11.10pm (4.10am) | Wiesberger, Bernd | Waring, Paul | Cockerill, Aaron |
| 11.20pm (4.20am) | Lorenzo-Vera, Mike | Gallacher, Stephen | Long, Hurly |
| 11.30pm (4.30am) | Chappell, Kevin | Fisher, Ross | Manassero, Matteo |
| 11.40pm (4.40am) | Hanna, Chase | Pavan, Andrea | Kjettrup, Frederik |
| 2.30am (7.30am) | Kinhult, Marcus | Tway, Kevin | Helligkilde, Marcus |
| 2.40am (7.40am) | Harrington, Padraig | Brun, Julien | Armitage, Marcus |
| 2.50am (7.50am) | McKibbin, Tom | Lombard, Zander | Southgate, Matthew |
| 3.00am (8.00am) | Otaegui, Adrian | Smith, Jordan | Langasque, Romain |
| 3.10am (8.10am) | Paul, Yannik | Fitzpatrick, Alex | Molinari, Francesco |
| 3.20am (8.20am) | Harman, Brian | Meronk, Adrian | Bradbury, Dan |
| 3.30am (8.30am) | McIlroy, Rory | Højgaard, Nicolai | Scott, Adam |
| 3.40am (8.40am) | Hoshino, Rikuya | Rozner, Antoine | Ferguson, Ewen |
| 3.50am (8.50am) | Niemann, Joaquin | Kimsey, Nathan | Migliozzi, Guido |
| 4.00am (9.00am) | Winther, Jeff | Elvira, Nacho | Sharma, Shubhankar |
| 4.10am (9.10am) | Pepperell, Eddie | Schwab, Matthias | Kieffer, Maximilian |
10TH TEE
| ET (GMT) | Row 0 - Cell 1 | Row 0 - Cell 2 | Row 0 - Cell 3 |
| 10.10pm (3.10am) | Crocker, Sean | Strydom, Ockie | Jarvis, Casey |
| 10.20pm (3.20am) | Penge, Marco | Wu, Ashun | Ramsay, Richie |
| 10.30pm (3.30am) | Syme, Connor | Hillier, Daniel | Bachem, Nick |
| 10.40pm (3.40am) | Schaper, Jayden | Lawrence, Thriston | Brown, Daniel |
| 10.50pm (3.50am) | Larrazábal, Pablo | Siem, Marcel | Donald, Luke |
| 11.00pm (4.00am) | Fleetwood, Tommy | Young, Cameron | Fox, Ryan |
| 11.10pm (4.10am) | Hatton, Tyrrell | Højgaard, Rasmus | Olesen, Thorbjørn |
| 11.20pm (4.20am) | Campillo, Jorge | Söderberg, Sebastian | Luiten, Joost |
| 11.30pm (4.30am) | Forrest, Grant | Bjørn, Thomas | Guerrier, Julien |
| 11.40pm (4.40pm) | Arnaus, Adri | Svensson, Jesper | Thorbjornsen, Michael |
| 2.30am (7.30am) | Del Rey, Alejandro | Gouveia, Ricardo | Vaillant, Tom |
| 2.40am (7.40am) | Tarrio, Santiago | Jamieson, Scott | Huizing, Daan |
| 2.50am (7.50am) | Zanotti, Fabrizio | Nørgaard, Niklas | Saddier, Adrien |
| 3.00am (8.00am) | Whitnell, Dale | Forsström, Simon | Gavins, Daniel |
| 3.10am (8.10am) | Cabrera Bello, Rafa | Clements, Todd | Kawamura, Masahiro |
| 3.20am (8.20am) | Li, Haotong | Mansell, Richard | Law, David |
| 3.30am (8.30am) | Wilson, Oliver | Donaldson, Jamie | Hidalgo, Angel |
| 3.40am (8.40am) | Veerman, Johannes | Schneider, Marcel | Green, Gavin |
| 3.50am (8.50am) | Canter, Laurie | Grenville-Wood, Joshua | Ko, Jeong Weon |
| 4.00am (9.00am) | Daffue, Mj | Nemecz, Lukas | Kjeldsen, Søren |
| 4.10am (9.10am) | Garcia, Sebastian | Coussaud, Ugo | Wiebe, Gunner |
How To Watch The Hero Dubai Desert Classic In The US
All times ET
Thursday 18 January: 2.30am-7.30am (Golf Channel/Peacock)
Friday 19 January: 2.30am-7.30am (Golf Channel/Peacock)
Saturday 20 January: 2.30am-7.30am (Golf Channel/Peacock)
Sunday 21 January: 2.30am-7.30am (Golf Channel/Peacock)
How To Watch The Hero Dubai Desert Classic In The UK
All times GMT
Thursday 18 January: 4.00am-1.30pm (Sky Sports Main Event/Sky Sports Golf)
Friday 19 January: 4.00am-1.30pm (Sky Sports Main Event/Sky Sports Golf)
Saturday 20 January: 4.00am-1.00pm (Sky Sports Golf), 4.00am-12.00pm (Sky Sports Main Event)
Sunday 21 January: 4.00am-1.00pm (Sky Sports Golf), 4.30am-11.00am (Sky Sports Main Event)
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