Rory McIlroy: Six-time major winner takes two-shot penalty at Abu Dhabi championship as Jon Rahm starts well

Standings for the first round of the Abu Dhabi Championship

-10 F Laporta (Italy); -7 S Bairstow (Eng), J Rahm (Spa), B Wiesberger (Aut); -6 A Meronk (Pol), M Jordan (England)

Others selected: -5 T Hatton (English), A Rai (English), K Reitan (North); -4 A Scott (Aus), M Wallace (Eng); -3 E Ferguson (Scot), J Dean (Eng); -2 R McIlroy (NI), E Chacarra (Spa), F Molinari (Ita), T Fleetwood (Eng); +2 P Reed (United States)

Complete ranking

Rory McIlroy was penalized two shots for improving his lie during the first round of the Abu Dhabi championship.

The six-time major winner was penalized after tapping the grass behind his ball with his club before hitting a chip on the par-four 12th at Yas Links.

In a statement, the DP World Tour said McIlroy broke rule 8.1b(4), which allows a player to “lightly crush his club directly in front of or behind the ball.”

The statement added: “’Landing the club lightly’ means allowing the weight of the club to be supported by the grass on or above the surface of the ground and there is no penalty even if the lie is improved.

“However, a player is not allowed to press the club to the ground.”

The infraction, which was imposed after his round, changed his six into a quadruple bogey eight – his only dropped shots of the round – and meant he signed for a two-under 70.

Northern Irishman McIlroy, seeking a record eighth title in the Race to Dubai, appeared to have made a good start to the tournament with a four-under 68, but the impact of the penalty left him eight shots behind leader Francesco Laporta.

The 37-year-old said that although “there was obviously no intention” on his part, he was “happy” to take the penalty.

“I respect the rules,” said the world number two.

He added: “I try to do everything I can to never find myself in these positions.

“But just watching the video, I feel like it doesn’t look very good. That obviously wasn’t my intention. I’m just trying to understand the lie.”