Rory McIlroy found himself facing a rules scenario for a second week but with no hint of infraction whatsoever on the opening day of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

McIlroy rebounded superbly from a horror start when he was three-over after just two holes to eventually sign for a one-under par 70 on the TPC Scottsdale course.

The World No. 6 started double-bogey and bogey to slump to three-over after just two holes before getting himself back into the red with five birdies and heading to lunch just inside the top-30 in the Euro 6.1m event.

First time playing the 16th. @McIlroyRory finds a way to give ’em a show. 💪#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/zLzYlAsP4P

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 4, 2021

“I feel okay and it was a good battle back from being three-over through two which isn’t ideal, especially on this golf course where you sort of need to make birdies,” he said.

“So, I fought back well. I wish I didn’t drop that shot coming in on the 8th hole, but shooting under par after the start wasn’t too bad.”

McIlroy found a front greenside bunker with his second shot at the par-4 10^th hole, and the first of his round, and then put his third in a back sand trap before taking another three shots in a double-bogey ‘6’.

He had to then dig his way out of deep rough at the next in taking a ‘5’ before finding forward gears with three birdies in four holes from his fourth to seventh holes and the best of the trio being a 32-foot chip-in for birdie at the par-3 16^th or the seventh hole of his round.

McIlroy then jumped to two-under with birdies at his 11^th and 12^th holes.

He sought the advice of a referee at the par-3 seventh or his 15^th hole when his stance was affected by not one but three sprinkler heads.  The rule allows a player to take a ‘free’ drop and that was the advice McIlroy was given.

Last week, McIlroy found himself drawn into the Patrick Reed rules controversy over a Reed embedded ball and with the American bringing McIlroy into his defence when McIlroy gave himself relief from an embedded ball at the 18th hole and with a spectator later advising the Tour they had accidentally stepped on McIlroy’s ball.

So, there should be no ‘poisonous’ late night tweet on this occasion.

He did bogey his penultimate hole to end his round as the afternoon half of the draw was taking to the course including Padraig Harrington.

“It was not the ideal start finding the desert at the first but I knew on the back nine at least I had some par-5s coming up and a few good chances,” said McIlroy.

“So, very thankfully I was able to take advantage of some of them.”

And even with 5,000 ‘masked’ spectators allowed in each day, and when the average per day the past few years has been around 175,000 per day, McIlroy and his colleagues were glad to get vocal support.

“It was nice to play in front of people today,” he said.

“Yeah, just to get clapped for some good shots and good putts and get encouragement from some greens to tees, it was really nice to see people out here.”

American Matthew NeSmith was the early clubhouse leader posting an eight-under par 63.