Rory McIlroy fired a 5-under 67 Thursday at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as he continues to work through a recent swing change.
Earlier this week, McIlroy, the world No. 3, extensively detailed the work he’s been doing over the past month to tighten up some of the aspects of his swing and make it less reliant on timing. That included hitting balls into a studio simulator for three weeks, unable to see the ball flight.
On a day ripe for scoring in Abu Dhabi, McIlroy recorded six birdies against just a lone bogey to sit five shots off the lead after the opening day. McIlroy is in a tie for 18th, with work to do to catch leader Tommy Fleetwood.
“It felt OK,” McIlroy said, explaining that, with the wider fairways and little wind, he was still concentrating more on the swing motion than hitting shots. He has also adopted a new pre-shot routine to ensure his takeaway is in the proper position.
“I probably wasn’t as imaginative out there, or I was hitting very straight shots, and I hit a couple where I didn’t really see the picture of what I was trying to do with the ball flight because I was thinking too much on what I was doing with the swing. … Overall, it felt pretty good today.”
McIlroy is on the verge of wrapping up a third consecutive Race to Dubai title on the DP World Tour, and he’s grouped for the first two rounds with his nearest competitors, Thriston Lawrence (67) and Rasmus Hojgaard (66).
McIlroy, who hasn’t played in a month, will compete in this week’s event in Abu Dhabi and next week’s season finale in Abu Dhabi to close out his 2024 schedule.
Fleetwood, the current world No. 10, had eight birdies and an eagle for a 10-under 62 at Yas Links. The Englishman is a stroke clear of Thorbjorn Olesen and Johannes Veerman. Tyrrell Hatton is two back in a group at 64.
Fleetwood is using a new TaylorMade prototype putter this week and it paid off on Thursday.
“Putted amazing. Felt like I read the greens so well,” he said. “Beautiful pace control and hit a lot of good putts and started holing them. It worked even all the way through to the last hole, I just hit perfect putts.”
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