McIlroy: “I Wasn’t So Imaginative Out There”.

1 month ago by Comments Off on McIlroy: “I Wasn’t So Imaginative Out There”.

World No. 3 Rory McIlroy admitted he ‘wasn’t so imaginative out there’ in posting a five under par 67 on the opening day of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the Yas Links course.

McIlroy had birdied the second hole but then stalled before finding forward gears with birdies at eight and nine and heading into his closing nine holes looking to make a serious impression in very hot conditions in this $9m penultimate Race to Dubai event of the year.

He went to four-under with a birdie on 11 ahead of holing a seven-footer at the 14th to go to five-under before a sloppy bogey at the par-3 17th saw McIlroy drop his first and only shot of the round.

McIlroy then found the right side of the green at the uphill par-5 18th from where he two-putted from some 20-yards for a sixth birdie of his day and a then clubhouse share of 16th place in the limited 70-player field.

“Yeah, it felt okay. Yeah, sort of gotten comfortable with doing this little rehearsal before I take the club back. Yeah, it felt fine”, said McIlroy to reporters.

“Yeah, I probably wasn’t as imaginative out there or I was sort of hitting very straight shots and I hit a couple where I didn’t really see the picture of what I was trying to do with the ball flight because I was thinking too much on what I was doing with the swing.

“Overall, I’m quite fortunate that it’s a nice week to come back because there’s not too much wind. It’s pretty wide off the tee. So I feel like I can concentrate a little bit more on what I’m trying to do with the motion. Yeah, overall it felt pretty good today”.

McIlroy teed-up in his 13th appearance in the event looking for a first victory toast after four prior second place finishes plus just as many third place results.

Though in saying that McIlroy has played in the United Arab Emirates notching five DP World Tour titles in Dubai while earlier this year also capturing a fourth Hero Dubai Desert Classic title while, as he points out, he was a resident of Dubai earlier in his pro career.

“I’ve been coming here for a long time. I think I played my first Dubai Desert Classic 18 years ago at this point, nearly 19 years ago”, he said.

“It’s a place I’m very, very comfortable with. I have a lot of friends here. I’ve lived in the region for four years. So it feels a bit like a second home to me.

“So it’s always nice to get back, and very familiar with the surroundings and when you are that way, you know, it seems to produce some good golf for me”.

Dane Thorbjorn Olesen and American Johannes Veerman were the early clubhouse lead with nine-under 63s.



Comments are closed.