Rory McIlroy acknowledged that video of the incident that led to the Northern Irishman being assessed a two-shot penalty during the first round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Thursday “doesn’t look very good.”
The world’s No. 2-ranked player’s chip to the par-4 12th hole failed to reach the elevated green, with the ball rolling back down the hill into the rough. It came to rest in a divot, and McIlroy pressed his club behind the ball before walking up to survey the green.
Rules officials deemed McIlroy to have improved his lie and assessed a two-shot penalty after his round at Yas Links.
“There’s no intent. I play by the rules,” McIlroy said. “I try to do everything that I can to never end up in these positions.
“But just by looking at the video, it doesn’t look very good.”
McIlroy’s double bogey on the 12th hole turned into a quadruple-bogey 8.
“Obviously that wasn’t my intent. I’m just trying to get a feel for the lie,” he said. “In the process, this piece of grass has sort of laid down. I guess the technical term for the rule is if you press down on the piece.
“I don’t feel like I pressed down. But at the same time, I don’t want the perception of people thinking like I got away with something, either. So I’m happy to take a two-shot penalty and move on and move into tomorrow.”
McIlroy ended up signing for a 2-under-par 70 and will begin the second round eight shots off the lead held by Italy’s Francesco Laporta.
The Abu Dhabi Championship begins the DP World Tour’s two-event playoffs, with McIlroy seeking a record-tying eighth Race to Dubai title. He is third in the standings behind Eugenio Chacarra and American Patrick Reed.
Despite the penalty, McIlroy is tied with Chacarra and four shots ahead of Reed entering the second round. The trio are paired together for the first two rounds, and Chacarra admitted to battling some nerves while also playing with a new driver after breaking the one he had been using since February during Wednesday’s pro-am.
“It was a long day. Obviously it wasn’t easy to play with two of my idols, and I knew as I started a little bit nervous,” Chacarra said. “I learned a lot. It was a pleasure to play with Rory. Obviously, he’s a tremendous player, but he’s also an amazing person, everything that I ask and how he is on the course.”
Chacarra and McIlroy are tied for 33rd place and looking up at several marquee players ahead of them. That includes Spain’s Jon Rahm, who is tied for second following a bogey-free 7-under 65 in his first competitive round in seven weeks and his first-ever round at Yas Links.
McIlroy also would have been bogey-free if not for the quadruple bogey. Chacarra expects his idol to be “fired up” on Friday, and McIlroy is taking the approach of a two-week battle to the finish line of the Race to Dubai.
“It’s not just this week, it’s next week as well,” he said. “They’re both their own individual tournaments, but you’re almost trying to treat it like any other event, just trying to build on each and every day.
“I felt like I could have got off to a better start today, but as I said, I felt like I saw enough encouraging signs in my game to go in and shoot a good one tomorrow and try to get myself back in the tournament.”