DP World Tour Championship 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Lee Westwood carded a six-under 66 to lead by one shot at the 2016 DP World Tour Championship on Thursday in Dubai. 

Julien Quesne and Nicolas Colsaerts sit behind him at five under, while Sergio Garcia, Francesco Molinari and Joost Luiten are another shot further back.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy had a day to forget at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, though, as he shot a disappointing three-over.

Here's a look at how the leaderboard is shaping up after Round 1:

Position	Player	To Par	Round 1
1	Lee Westwood	-6	66
T2	Julien Quesne	-5	67
T2	Nicolas Colsaerts	-5	67
T4	Sergio Garcia	-4	68
T4	Francesco Molinari	-4	68
T4	Joost Luiten	-4	68
T7	Jaco van Zyl	-3	69
T7	Kiradech Aphibarnrat	-3	69
T7	Marcus Fraser	-3	69
T7	Alexander Levy	-3	69

Recap

Quesne and Colsaerts set the pace early on as the latter completed an unblemished round to share the clubhouse lead.

The Frenchman's round was a much more up-and-down affair—he was only one under after 13 holes, having carded four birdies and three bogeys, but he picked up four shots in his last five holes to pull level with the Belgian in a strong finish.

Per the European Tour's official Twitter feed, Westwood soon surpassed them:

A bogey at the 12th was his only mistake in an otherwise excellent round; he picked up seven birdies.

Three came on the front nine at the second, seventh and eighth, while his four on the back nine came at the 10th, 13th, 14th and 17th.

As the European Tour revealed, Westwood has cause for optimism for the remainder of the tournament:

Garcia also reached six under when he produced one of the highlights of the day with an exceptional putt at the 14th for an eagle:

However, his good work was undone by a double bogey two holes later, forcing him to settle for joint-fourth.

Meanwhile, McIlroy never managed to recover from a poor start. The European Tour highlighted his struggles as he opened with bogeys at the first, fourth and sixth holes:

Golf Monthly's Nick Bonfield believed he would have benefited from playing in the Nedbank Golf Challenge as a warm-up for the event:

The Northern Irishman dropped another shot on No. 10 to kick off his back nine.

He looked to be heading for a positive finish thanks to birdies at the 14th and 15th—and indeed, he also picked up another shot on the last hole—but a double bogey at the 16th ensured he would suffer his first-ever finish over par in the competition, per the European Tour.

A full nine shots off the lead, it will be incredibly difficult for McIlroy to put himself in the mix to win the championship, barring a dramatic turnaround.

It's still all to play for at the top, however—Westwood has laid down the gauntlet for the field, but there are plenty within touching distance who could move ahead with a strong second round on Friday.