Rory McIlroy’s first-round score at the Abu Dhabi Championship was officially inflated from a two-under 70 to an even-par 72 after officials handed him a two-shot penalty. The ruling stems from an incident on the par-4 12th hole, where video footage captured the world No. 2 pressing his club into the grass behind his ball. The ball had rolled back down the hill into a divot after McIlroy duffed an attempted chip, and officials determined that his actions improved the lie, violating the rules of golf.
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The penalty transformed McIlroy’s initial double-bogey into a quadruple-bogey, leaving him eight shots off the lead held by Francesco Laporta, who carded a bogey-free 62. The incident has significantly dented McIlroy’s momentum in his pursuit of a record-tying eighth season-long Race to Dubai title. After spending time in the scorer’s hut to discuss the matter with officials, the Northern Irishman acknowledged that the visual evidence “doesn’t look very good,” though he maintained there was no intent to gain an unfair advantage.
Despite the setback, McIlroy defended his adherence to the rules, stating, “There’s no intent. I play by the rules.” He explained that he was merely trying to gauge the lie of the ball, which was situated at the bottom of a sandy divot. “I try to do everything that I can to never end up in these positions,” McIlroy added, highlighting the fine line between assessing a lie and inadvertently improving it under the scrutiny of modern broadcast technology.
Source: The Guardian Sport
