Rory McIlroy was assessed a two-shot penalty after his first round at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship on Thursday, with officials ruling he improved his lie on a hole where he made double-bogey. His double-bogey 6 on the 12th became a quadruple-bogey 8.
McIlroy birdied three of his last six holes to post a 68, but the penalty changed it to a 70. He fell from T-13 to T-33, eight shots behind Francesco Laporta’s bogey-free 62.
His approach on the par-4 12th at Yas Links finished just over the green at the bottom of a steep hill. His chip nearly crested the hill before rolling back to his feet and settling in a divot. Close-up video shows his wedge pushing down long grass behind the ball, and the grass does not spring back when he lifts the club.
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Rule 8.1b prohibits moving or bending growing grass, and it specifically names pressing the club on the ground. McIlroy said he didn’t realize it happened until officials showed him the video in the scorer’s tent.
He said he was only getting a feel for the lie in a sandy divot, checking whether he could get his 54-degree onto the back of the ball. He admitted the footage “doesn’t look very good.”
“There’s no intent. I play by the rules,” McIlroy said. He added that he tries to “do everything I can to never end up in these positions.”
McIlroy said he doesn’t believe he pressed down. He took the penalty anyway because he didn’t want “people thinking like I got away with something.” “So I’m happy to take a two-shot penalty and move on,” he said.
The DP World Tour said McIlroy couldn’t determine from the footage whether he had pressed the club down, and that “he was not comfortable proceeding without penalty.” He chose to apply the two strokes himself.
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McIlroy is chasing a fifth straight Race to Dubai title, which would tie Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight. He entered the week about 1,000 points behind leader Eugenio Chacarra and about 330 behind Patrick Reed, with 1,500 points going to the winner in Abu Dhabi. Chacarra played in McIlroy’s group on Thursday.
On Friday, McIlroy made 11 birdies and shot 9-under 63. At 11 under, he sits one shot behind co-leaders Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Laporta.
“I’d much rather be two shots worse off than be called a cheat,” McIlroy said Friday. He said he made peace with the ruling before leaving the course Thursday and played the second round with a clear conscience.
Abu Dhabi is the next-to-last event of the 2026 DP World Tour season.
