Rory McIlroy hit by two-stroke penalty at Abu Dhabi Golf Championship

Rory McIlroy said he accepted a two-stroke penalty after being shown video evidence of an incident at the end of the opening day of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship.

The penalty was enforced after he was deemed to have improved his lie while scrapping to make a double bogey at the 12th hole at Yas Links. That became a quadruple-bogey eight, when he was shown footage in the recorders area after the round.

It meant he eventually signed for a two-under-par round of 70, which left him tied 33rd in a group that also includes Eugenio Chacarra, who McIlroy is chasing at the top of the Race to Dubai.

The world No 2's only dropped shots in the round were those four that all came it the 12th. He was ruled to have pressed down the grass behind the ball after it had rolled back into a divot he had taken while practicing his previous chip from the bottom of a deep slope beside the green.

“I hit my first chip shot from down on the bottom of the hill, then [it] came back down and rolled into a divot,” McIlroy said. “Then as I went to just get a feel for the lie, from the close-up of the camera, you can see a little piece of grass around the divot sort of lies down as I put my club down behind the ball.

“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, 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 [wedge] on to the back of the ball, but in the process, this piece of grass has laid down.

“I don't feel like I pressed down. But at the same time, I don't want people thinking I got away with something either. So I'm happy to take a two-shot penalty and move on and move into tomorrow.”

The additional lost strokes leave McIlroy with more ground to make up on the leaders, and thus close the gap on Chacarra and Patrick Reed at the top of the standings.

The trio were the biggest draw of the day, playing the last match out at Yas. And yet, while so many in the rest of the field thrived in the heat, the box-office group had a tepid day.

Just as McIlroy fell foul of that incident on the 12th, Chacarra struggled to find his best, not helped by the fact he had cracked his driver a day earlier in the pro-am.

Reed, for his part, was flat throughout, before finding the water of the Arabian Gulf at the last, and ending with a double bogey seven to finish two-over.

While the trio chasing the Race to Dubai title toiled, a little-heralded Italian with an Air Jordan tattoo leapt to the front.

Francesco Laporta said he felt like he had been playing a video game after finishing a stroke shy of the course record after a sparkling opening day at Yas Links.

Laporta, who started the day 57th in the order of merit, fired a 10-under-par 62. By the end of the day that was good enough for a three-stroke lead over a group including tournament debutant Jon Rahm.

“Everything was going like a video game,” said Laporta, who wore shorts to beat the heat, thus showing off the Michael Jordan tribute inked on his calf.

“I'm very happy about that. Actually, I had been struggling a bit in the last few days, so I had a lot of time on the range yesterday.

“And I spent a lot of time on the greens, to understand how to work around the lines and the spin because the greens are pure, but they're also quick.”