By Kent Gray
Rory McIlroy wouldn’t stretch as far as to call it a “comeback” but the world No. 11’s delight with his first competitive outing in 106 days was fully-fledged.
A bogey-free 69 has the Northern Irishman just three back heading into the second round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA and in a chipper mood as he surveys the year ahead.
Coming off the first winless year of his career and a 3.5 month sabbatical designed to get mind and body back in sync with his lofty career goals (he’s openly admitted to be targeting Sir Nick Faldo’s six major titles and after that Gary Player’s nine), the round was encouraging feedback on all the hard pre-season work.
“Yeah, I felt like my swing was under control and I was able to hit every shot that I needed to,” said McIlroy after finishing three worse than pace-setters Tommy Fleetwood and Hideto Tanihara but encouragingly three better than the Dustin Johnson, a decent form gauge given the world No.1s win in Hawaii a fortnight ago.
“It was nice. I was excited to get going. I feel like I’m nearly the most prepared for a season that I’ve ever been, so those couple of months were nice.”
McIlroy’s swing, after a few loose-ish iron shots early, looked close to its powerful and rhythmic best.
He drove the ball solidly, missed a solitary green and stayed patient after opening with 11 straight pars from the 10th to rattle off three birdies in his closing seven holes on the 3rd, 7th and 8th. The tee shot he flushed to inside two feet on the 7th, his 16th hole, was a peach given a pin cut tight to the right hand side of the water-guarded par 3.
“It was a great pairing to start off with, with Dustin and Tommy out there. Tommy obviously played very well and I was just trying to hang on to his coattails for most of the round. Really pleased. Bogey-free, 69, can’t really complain.”
McIlroy bemoaned being unable to properly practice before and during events last year and even admitted to feeling a degree of guilt when he did get into contention because he hadn’t been able to put the necessary work in to grasp the rare opportunities.
So, did you feel any nerves, or different in any way, ahead of your comeback?
“Comeback? Not really a comeback. Yeah, I had a few months off, but it wasn’t as if I was coming back from a year or something.
“Look, it’s the first day of a long year hopefully, so it’s just a matter of just trying to hit good shots and try to hole putts and move on to the next and do the same thing. I guess not that I didn’t have any expectations, but I think going out there and just more of a, not learning, but just, we’ll see how it goes, having that attitude, it definitely helped, as well.”
McIlroy has a pair of Dubai Desert Classic titles but the Falcon Trophy has thus far eluded him, if only just after four runner-up finishes around The National. One round doesn’t make a season but it was an extremely positive line in the desert sand.
“My expectation coming into this week was that I could win, but I think after the first day, seeing where my game’s at and playing alongside two of the most in-form players in the world right now, I feel like I’m not that far away.”
