Rory McIlroy needed only six shots to finish off his first round of the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday morning – a remarkable stat given that the world No 1 had three holes to complete.
Little wonder that McIlroy came walking off his final hole (the ninth) shaking his head and laughing. The leaderboard told him that he was in a tie for the lead with none other than Patrick Reed, the American LIV Golf rebel with whom he became involved in a bizarre tee-throwing fracas in the build-up.
But that was not the reason for his mirth. “That was a wild 45 minutes,” McIlroy said. “The shot on eighth there summed it all up.”
McIlroy duly converted the four-footer for birdie on the seventh (his 16th) that he wisely left on Thursday when play was suspended for darkness. “I would definitely have taken the wrong line if I’d finished it off last night,” he said. But he pushed his tee-shot on the next into the desert. No matter, from 116 yards he hit a lob wedge and watched his ball spin into the hole for an eagle.
On his last hole, he again lost his drive to the right and again, from the rough this time, played a rousing recovery, conjuring a eight-iron to within four feet.
‘There’s no way I should be six under’
Two slices, two Seve impressions and two putts… and a six-under 66. “I’m usually the master of turning into a 66 into a 70,” he said. “But that was the other way around. Look, the score glosses over the golf that I played. There’s no way I should be six-under.
“But I holed a 12-footer for a par on the 17th yesterday [his eighth] and that kept me at one-over. I picked up a few before the hooter went and was just hoping to come out this morning, hole that birdie putt and maybe pick up one more. I would have been ecstatic on four-under. I need to refine my long game, but this puts me in a great position. I feel lucky, though, because I could have been at least four or five shots worse.”
In contrast, Reed believes he could be a couple of better after a few missed short putts, although he was not about to moan having made his own eagle on Friday morning to grab a share of the advantage. His three on the par-five 18th was rather more orthodox, rolling in a 15-footer after a fine approach from 230 yards.
McIlroy and Reed seem destined to play a joint-leading role in this £7.27 million event and the sponsors will be salivating at the prospect of the pair playing together when the tournament finally gets back on track – probably on Sunday morning – after the delays caused by the dramatic downpours.
It all began when McIlroy blanked Reed on Monday, later explaining that Reed’s lawyer had served him with a subpoena on Christmas Eve, demanding he testify in an antitrust case against the PGA Tour.
Reed, who is personally suing the PGA Tour but insists he is not involved in those particular legalities, chucked a LIV-branded tee at McIlroy’s feet and a ludicrous media frenzy ensued. But then on Thursday morning, McIlroy noticed that Reed was about to leave the hotel where they are both staying and alerted the Texan that there was a play suspension and that he was better off remaining where he was. Reed thanked him for that.
“Ironically, the first person I saw yesterday morning was Patrick Reed,” McIlroy said. “Look it’s all fine. It’s been blown out of proportion. And you know, once the golf starts it’s nice so we can all just focus on the pars and birdies.” And the eagles, of course.