Rory McIlroy picks up two-shot penalty for rules violation in Abu Dhabi opening round

If it comes down to millimetres in his quest for a record-equalling eighth order of merit title on the DP World Tour, then Rory McIlroy could have cause to reflect on a minute of indiscretion at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship. In Thursday’s opening round, the Northern Irishman was deemed to have improved his lie, incurring a two-stroke penalty that turned his 68 into a 70.For all of the brilliance exhibited by McIlroy in the opening round of the Tour’s penultimate event at Yas Links, it was the slightest of movement on the 12th hole which proved most notable of all.There, having missed the green from the middle of the fairway, McIlroy’s initial chip shot failed to find the putting the surface and rolled back down the slope to finish in a divot. He briefly laid his lob wedge behind the ball and moved on to assess the shot, but the action caused a piece of grass to move. It was picked up by television cameras and subsequently led to the two-shot penalty, turning a double bogey into a quadruple bogey.Rory McIlroy appears to have been awarded a 2 shot penalty on the par 4 12th hole changing his double bogey 6 to a quadruple bogey 8.It’s unclear what it’s for, but there was a video circulating earlier that appeared to show him improving his lie in the rough after a chip came… https://t.co/NE3ucdmO7S— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) November 5, 2026 McIlroy, a stickler for the rules, took his medicine.READ MORE“They showed me a video from 12,” he said. “Hit my first chip shot from down on the bottom of the hill, then get up, came back down and rolled into a divot. 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 I guess the grass doesn’t return back to its original position.“Obviously there’s no intent, I play by the rules, 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 very good. Obviously that wasn’t my intent. I’m just trying to get a feel for the lie. The ball is in a sort of bottom of a sandy divot. I’m trying to feel like if I can get a 54-degree, like, on to the back of the ball, but in the process, this piece of grass has sort of laid down, and it doesn’t [come back up].“I don’t feel like I pressed down, but at the same time, I don’t want the perception of people thinking like I got away with something either. So, I’m happy to take a two-shot penalty and move on.”McIlroy – currently third in the Race to Dubai, behind Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra and American Patrick Reed – is in need of a strong finish in Abu Dhabi ahead of next week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai if he is to keep alive his quest for an eight order of merit tiel, which would draw him level with Colin Montgomerie.McIlroy’s round contained six birdies and the quadruple bogey for a 70, the same as Chacarra, with Reed struggling to a 74.Italy’s Francesca Laporta shot a superb opening round 62 to take the lead, three shots clear of Jon Rahm, Sam Bairstow and Bernd Wiesberger.