The poster boy of the inaugural Dubai Invitational decided to provide some extra brush strokes of his own as Rory McIlroy – the world number two – produced a masterclass on Thursday. An opening round of nine-under-par 62, with nine birdies and not a single dropped shot, moved the Northern Irishman to the top of leaderboard in his quest to hit the ground running on his seasonal debut, two shots clear of nearest pursuer Yannik Paul.
This was a stress-free exhibition from McIlroy at The Creek Golf Club, his smile wide and his club twirling at times as if admiring his own execution of shots. There were no fewer than 12 threes on his card – six on each side – and his approach play was sublime, hitting 16 of 18 greens in regulation with no fewer than 13 of those darts finishing inside 20 feet. More often than not, the putter did its job, as the 34-year-old made the most of a return to a familiar environment.
Back in his fledgling days on tour, McIlroy was a resident of Dubai, for four years, and there were many a skins game played out on the downtown course nestled beside the creek. On the rare occasions he was out of position, he knew where the right miss was and McIlroy – chasing a first win on tour since his Scottish Open success of last July – played the percentages.
Playing for the first time since the DP World Tour championship last November, and well rested over the winter, McIlroy started on the 10th and, although failing to birdie the Par 5, claimed a first birdie of the round on the 11th, from six feet, and then added further birdies on the 15th, 17th and 18th in a flawless stretch to turn in 32.
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He made it a hat-trick of birdies when holing from 22 feet on the first and kicked on with further birdies on the third, fourth, seventh and ninth to come home in 30 strokes to sign for a 62 that left him two strokes clear of Germany’s Paul. Among those slightly further adrift included McIlroy’s Ryder Cup team-mates, Tommy Fleetwood – a resident of the emirate – who opened with a 66 and Nicolai Hojgaard, who signed for a 67.
McIlroy is starting his 2024 season with back-to-back events in the desert – this week’s inaugural Dubai Invitational (which will be a biennial even on the circuit going forward) followed by his defence of the Dubai Desert Classic next week – before shifting his attention to the PGA Tour, where he is due to start his work stateside in next month’s Pebble Beach pro-am.
Although he’d hoped to get off to a strong start in a season where he again goes in search of a Green Jacket at the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam, McIlroy confessed to being a little surprised that there was no rust in his game.
“I didn’t expect that. It didn’t feel quite as good as that the first couple of days when I was here and hitting balls and playing the course,” he said. “But it was nice to get a card in the hand again and sort of feel the competitive juices flowing. It was a really comfortable group [with Ryan Fox]. So it was a very comfortable sort of pairing and round of golf out there. Yeah, surprised myself a little bit but hopefully more of the same over the next few days.
“It’s a very easy way to sort of get back into things and this is a nice week to do some extra practice and put some work in so that, you know, I feel a bit more ready not just for next week, which is obviously a bigger event, but also going into the bulk of the season.”
Earlier in the week, McIlroy – with his eyes on the first Major of the season, the Masters in early April – had revealed a reconfigured itinerary compared to past scheduling which will include nine or 10 outings prior to going about his business at Augusta National.
Tom McKibbin, who has moved to Callaway clubs having used TaylorMade in his rookie season when he claimed a breakthrough win in thee Porsche European Open, opened with a level-par 71, finishing with a 15-footer for birdie on the 18th, to lie in tied-32nd in the limited 60-man, no-cut field.
For Fleetwood, there was understandable satisfaction with an opening round 66, capped off by a closing five-footer for birdie.
Although resident in Dubai, Fleetwood had made his season’s debut in last week’s PGA Tour’s The Sentry tournament in Hawaii, a 14-hour time different from the UAE.
“I was happy with the way I played after the long travel. I hit good shots early on. I didn’t really have to worry about getting into a rhythm or anything, so that was a really good thing. You know, golf moves fast and on to another week. So, yeah, happy with the good start.”
Leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 71
62 Rory McIlroy
64 Yannik Paul (Ger)
65 Thriston Lawrence (RSA)
66 Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjoern Olesen (Den)
67 Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Adrian Otaegui (ESP), Sean Crocker (USA), Zander Lombard (RSA)
68 Francesco Molinari (ITA), Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den), Jordan Smith, Haotong Li (Chn), Antoine Rozner (Fra), Jeff Winther (Den)
69 Callum Shinkwin, Ewen Ferguson, Julien Guerrier (Fra), Ignacio Elvira (ESP)
70 Ryan Fox (Nzl), Adrian Meronk (Pol), Pablo Larrazabal (ESP), Jorge Campillo (ESP), Guido Migliozzi (ITA), Maximilian Kieffer (Ger), Kalle Samooja (Fin), Daniel Brown, Matthew Baldwin, Matthew Southgate, Hennie Du Plessis (RSA), Richard Mansell
71 Tom McKibbin, Ockie Strydom (RSA), Daniel Bradbury, Luke Donald, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Sebastian Soederberg (Swe), Joost Luiten (Ned), Romain Langasque (Fra), Nathan Kimsey, Calum Hill
72 Todd Clements, Daniel Hillier (Nzl), Richie Ramsay, Adria Arnaus (ESP), Marcus Armitage
73 Dale Whitnell, Marcel Siem (Ger), Nick Bachem (Ger), Grant Forrest, Hurly Long (Ger)
74 Oliver Wilson, Ashun Wu (Chn), Connor Syme, Marcus Helligkilde (Den)
75 Simon Forsstroem (Swe), Julien Brun (Fra)
76 Jens Dantorp (Swe)
77 Daniel Gavins
87 Ken Weyand (USA)
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