Rory McIlroy had one blemish on his scorecard Thursday at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship. But it was an unsightly one.
McIlroy hit his second shot on the par-4 12th through the green and his ball rolled into a valley of thick grass. His third shot trekked to the top of the slope, then traveled back down to his feet.
His ball nestled in rough, McIlroy placed his wedge behind the ball and — in the process — tamped down blades of grass. He went on to make what he thought was a ‘6' but turned out to be a quadruple-bogey 8 after being assessed a two-stroke penalty for improving his lie when he altered the grass (video above).
“They showed me a video from 12. Hit my first chip shot from down on the bottom of the hill, then get up, came back down and rolled into a divot,” McIlroy explained after officially posting a 2-under 70.
“And then as I went to sort of just get a feel for the lie, the close-up of the camera, you can see like a little piece of grass around the divot sort of lies down as I put my club down behind the ball, and it doesn’t — I guess the grass doesn’t return back to its original position.
“Obviously there’s no intent. I play by the rules. I feel like this is never really — I try to do everything that I can to never end up in these positions. But just by looking at the video, like it doesn’t look — it doesn’t look very good. Obviously that wasn’t my intent.”
McIlroy added he was trying to get a feel for the lie.
“The ball is in a sort of bottom of a sandy divot,” he said. “I’m trying to feel like if I can get a 54-degree, like, onto the back of the ball, but in the process, this piece of grass has sort of laid down, and it doesn’t — you know, the technical — I guess the technical term for the rule is if you press down on the piece.”
"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."
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 5, 2026
Rory McIlroy speaks after his opening round 70 at the… pic.twitter.com/9HhuK72Egn
He contended that he didn’t feel like he press down but told reporters he didn’t want the perception to be that he “got away with something either.”
“I’m happy to take a two-shot penalty and move on and move into tomorrow,” he said.
Aside from the 12th, McIlroy had six birdies and no other dropped shots. His 70 put him eight shots off Francesco Laporta’s lead and tied with playing competitor Eugenio Chacarra, whom McIlroy and Patrick Reed (74) are chasing in the Race to Dubai.
Chacarra said after the round that he disagreed with McIlroy’s two-stroke penalty, and didn’t believe the six-time major champion improved his lie.
“In the video, it doesn’t look great, but, I mean, we’ve been watching Rory for a long time, and he’s a class man and never tries to improve his lies or do anything,” the Race to Dubai leader told reporters. “Obviously with this grass in the middle, it’s a fluffy grass, so as soon as you put the weight of the club, the grass is going to come down. ... How is he supposed to hit that shot, you know? Like, I just need to learn. And it’s just like I think it’s 50/50.”
Chacarra added that he told McIlroy, who he had never played with until Thursday, that he was “happy to fight for it because I didn’t think he improved it.”
The 26-year-old Spaniard concluded that McIlroy would use the situation as motivation.
“I know he’s going to go fired up tomorrow. That’s going to fire him up, and he’s going to probably shoot the lowest round of the day tomorrow,” Chacarra said. “So I told him that I was sorry and thanks for the round, and yeah, it was a pleasure.”
