Golf matches always have some ups and downs. One bad round can make it feel like everything is over, while one good round can turn the tables for a golfer. Consider the 1999 Open Championship. Paul Lawrie was 10 shots behind the leader, Jean Van de Velde, before the last round. An impressive round of 67 on the last day helped Lawrie win the 1999 Open Championship. The World No. 2, Rory McIlroy, is hoping for something similar at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The 5x major winner is currently playing at the first DP World Tour Play-Off event. McIlroy fired an opening round of 68, which, according to him, is among his worst performances. “It could have been a lot better. I missed a lot of opportunities on the way in. I felt like I hit good putts, 12, 13, 14, 17, and then the last one there. Yeah, it could have been much better. Felt like it’s the worst I could have shot, so I guess that’s a positive in a way. Need to hole a few more of those 10- to 15-footers tomorrow,” said McIlroy.

McIlroy is right at the top of the Race to Dubai rankings. He has 4,132.56 points in his name, thanks to the Masters and the Amgen Irish Open wins this season. The only golfer close to him is Marco Penge, who is around 500 points behind him. Tyrrell Hatton, in third position, has 2,866.08 points and is almost 1300 points behind the career grand-slam winner.

While McIlroy considers it his bad round, it was not that bad after all. While Round 1 is still underway, the top performer yet has scored 64, which is only four less than McIlroy. But the 2025 Masters winner acknowledges that he could have done way better. “It was okay. I felt like I gave myself a lot of chances on the back nine. Just didn’t really convert. Hitting good putts. But just mostly under-reading them. Then, not to birdie the last after where I was off the tee was a little disappointing. You know, that was hopefully the bad round out of the way. There are three more rounds to try to take it a bit lower,” Rory McIlroy said about his opening round.

The 29x PGA Tour winner had only one bogey on hole 5. On the par-4, 401-yard hole, he started with a tee shot of 266 yards, which ended in the rough. His second shot of 158 yards landed in the greenside bunker, which made things a little difficult for the 5x major winner. After a 12-yard 3rd shot, he was only 4 feet from the hole. However, he missed it and had to take an extra shot to end the hole with a bogey. McIlroy also scored birdies on holes 2, 3, 7, 10, and 11. But he feels that it could have been much better.

The 2025 Masters winner decided to reduce the number of games on his schedule to play longer. One might think that this could be affecting his game. “Just trying to work my way through the gears right now. It’s getting there. As I said, hopefully that’s my sort of worst round out of the way. But it wasn’t terrible by any means. I drove the ball well and felt like the driver was good. New driver in the bag this week. So that was a positive. The wind got up a little bit that last sort of hour, hour and a half, and I felt like I controlled my ball well in the wind and hit some good iron shots. Need to convert a few more chances that I was giving myself,” the career grand-slam winner said.

Rory McIlroy has never won the Abu Dhabi Championship. He has had many close finishes, but never got past the winning line. This time, he will aim to change that with the remaining three rounds.

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Rory McIlroy’s history at the Abu Dhabi Championship

Rory McIlroy has an outstanding yet frustrating history at the Abu Dhabi Championship. He has won many events in the UAE, including four Dubai Desert Classic and three DP World Tour Championship wins. However, he has never won the Falcon Trophy presented at the Abu Dhabi Championship. But he has been close many times. “I’ve been close,” said McIlroy in his pre-tournament press conference. “Second four times and third five times or something.”

The Abu Dhabi Championship’s X account has also shared a post with a comment from McIlroy. It says, “I think it’s nine top three’s but no wins. I’d love to get my hands on that Falcon Trophy. I played well last year. Paul Waring was just a little better than all of us that week. I’d love to give myself a chance here and get into an even better position going into Dubai next week.” Paul Waring won the 2024 Race to Dubai and got his PGA Tour card for the 2025 season.

Some of his close finishes came in 2012, 2014, and 2015, when he lost by a single stroke to Robert Rock, Pablo Larrazábal, and Gary Stal, respectively. However, Rory McIlroy intends to get his hands on the Falcon Trophy this year. Although he has had a rocky start, he wishes to perform much better in the remaining three rounds.