McIlroy and Reed tied for the lead in Dubai
Rory McIlroy during The Open last year. Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/R&A via Getty Images
Rory McIlroy produced a dramatic birdie-eagle-birdie finish to fire an opening 66 only to be joined in a share of the clubhouse lead by none other than Patrick Reed in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
It was a spectacular finish to his delayed first round but the world number one confessed he was more relieved than thrilled after some superb putting and a hole out from the desert for an eagle two at the eighth put a sticking plaster on some rusty play in Dubai.
As Reed put Tee-Gate behind him and eagled the 18th to match McIlroy's 66, the Holywood star assessed a stop-start and very mixed first round characterised by some clutch putting.
"Honestly, not very good," he said of his play and a round characterised by some brilliant putting as he used the blade just 20 times. "I struggled out there most of yesterday. I thought I did well to be under par by the end of the day.
"I fought back after some very sloppy rusty golf over the first sort of 14 holes. And then yeah, today I came out and I don't really know if anything clicked because I don't think I hit enough shots to know.
"But it was definitely needed. Like I would have been happy with anything around 70 the way I played, and then to come in and shoot 66 is quite the bonus."
While the resumption of play was delayed by two hours due to heavy rain, McIlroy resumed by knocking in a four-footer for a birdie two at the sixth to get to three-under-par.
He then found the desert at the eighth but holed a wedge from 116 yards for a welcome eagle two before ripping a 160-yard approach from deep rough to just three feet at the ninth to set up a closing birdie.
"Yeah, you know, I wouldn't say I'm the best fairway bunker player in the world," admitted McIlroy. "The desert is a little nicer, it's a little more packed down, so you get some better lies.
"All I was thinking about was catching it clean. My tendency out of those lies is to hit it a little bit heavy. As soon as I struck it, I knew it came out really nicely and it was right down the pin.
"Again, anything inside of 20 feet, I would have been happy with, so that was certainly a bonus."
McIlroy could win and still lose his world number one ranking to a red-hot Jon Rahm, who carded a second-round 67 on the North Course in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines to move to within eight shots of leader Sam Ryder at halfway in an event where a third place finish could be enough for him if McIlroy finishes 28th or worse in Dubai.
"Yeah, I mean, I can't control what anyone else does," McIlroy said. "Rahmbo has got off to an unbelievable -- it is an unbelievable start of the year but building off what he did at the back end of last year as well.
"I'm not really paying attention to the World Rankings or anything. I'm just trying to get off to a good start to my year, trying to work on some things in my game and concentrate opponent myself.
"I still have some work to do as I said. I didn't play well at all yesterday, so a little bit of rest and some practice over the next 24 hours before I go out and play again tomorrow."
Reed had just two holes of his first round to complete and followed a par at the 17th with an eagle three from 15 feet at the 18th,
"I'm obviously really happy with the way I played," said Reed, who was ignored by McIlroy on the range earlier in the week and then flicked a tee in his direction, leading to an exchange of barbs that ended with the Texan branding McIlroy "an immature little child".
"I felt like last week wasn't really a reflection of all the hard work I've been doing in the off-season," the world No 90 said of his missed cut in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. "It was more getting rusty on playing tournament golf.
"So to come out this week and feel like I was able to put everything together and to have my mind right on game planning and course management was definitely a plus.
"I've never seen this place before, and coming in and seeing it for the first time and knowing and kind of realising that it's more of a positional golf course rather than just hit it wherever, and I feel like I had full control of the golf ball and made a couple putts."
McIlroy and Reed lead by a shot from Victor Perez, Thomas Pieters and Adri Arnaus but it was a tough opening round for Tom McKibbin and Padraig Harrington.
McKibbin was four-under with six holes to play on Thursday but signed for a two-over 74, while Harrington was at the bottom of the field after nine-over 81.
He birdied the fifth on his return to the course but bogeyed the eighth and ninth and had 32 putts despite hitting just eight greens in regulation.
It was his worst score on the DP World Tour since he shot 78 in the second round of The Open last year.
His highest is an 84 in the second round of the Benson & Hedges International at The Oxfordshire in 1996.
