ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Rory McIlroy was handed a two-shot penalty after his first round at the Abu Dhabi Championship on Thursday, with officials ruling he improved his lie on a hole where he made double-bogey to spoil his card.
McIlroy’s score of 6 at the par-4 12th hole turned into an even uglier 8 and left him posting a 2-under 70 to be eight shots off the lead, held by Francesco Laporta after his bogey-free round of 62.
In actions that have dented his bid to win a record-tying eighth season-long Race to Dubai title, McIlroy was seen in video footage pressing his club on grass behind his ball that had rolled back down the hill and into a divot after he duffed an attempted chip onto the green on No. 12.
“There’s no intent. I play by the rules,” said the world No. 2, who spent time in the scorer’s hut after his round discussing the incident with officials. “I try to do everything that I can to never end up in these positions.”
McIlroy acknowledged video footage of the incident “doesn’t look very good.”
“I’m just trying to get a feel for the lie,” he said. “The ball is in a sort of bottom of a sandy divot.
“I guess the technical term for the rule is if you press down on the piece (of grass). I don’t feel like I pressed down. But at the same time, I don’t want the perception of, like, people thinking like I got away with something, either. So I’m happy to take a 2-shot penalty and move on and move into tomorrow.”
The winner of the Race to Dubai — the DP World Tour’s version of a postseason — earns a $2 million bonus
In a statement, the European tour pointed to Rule 8.1b(4), which “permits a player to ground their club lightly right in front of or behind the ball.”
“However, a player is not allowed to press the club on the ground,” the statement said. “Having reviewed the footage, McIlroy was unable to say whether he had pressed the club on the ground or not. However, given his concern over perception of the footage, he was not comfortable proceeding without penalty. He therefore chose to apply a two-stroke penalty.”
McIlroy initially fared the best of the three Race to Dubai contenders in a low-scoring first round. Now he was tied with Eugenio Chacarra on 70, while Patrick Reed shot 74.
All were far behind Laporta.
The two-week postseason playoffs on the European tour began with the 224th-ranked Laporta shooting 10 under to take a three-stroke lead over three players — including fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm — at Yas Links.
“Everything was just going like a video game,” said Laporta, who missed a 6-foot birdie putt at No. 18 for a 61 that would have tied the course record.
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