Rory McIlroy (67) felt ‘fairly good’ in first spherical since swing change

Rory McIlroy fired a 5-under 67 Thursday on the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as he continues to work via a current swing change.

Earlier this week, McIlroy, the world No. 3, extensively detailed the work he’s been doing over the previous month to tighten up a number of the elements of his swing and make it much less reliant on timing. That included hitting balls right into a studio simulator for 3 weeks, unable to see the ball flight.

On a day ripe for scoring in Abu Dhabi, McIlroy recorded six birdies in opposition to only a lone bogey to take a seat 5 pictures off the lead after the opening day. McIlroy is in a tie for 18^th, with work to do to catch chief Tommy Fleetwood.

“It felt OK,” McIlroy mentioned, explaining that, with the broader fairways and little wind, he was nonetheless concentrating extra on the swing movement than hitting pictures. He has additionally adopted a brand new pre-shot routine to make sure his takeaway is within the correct place.

“I in all probability wasn’t as imaginative on the market, or I used to be hitting very straight pictures, and I hit a pair the place I didn’t actually see the image of what I used to be making an attempt to do with the ball flight as a result of I used to be considering an excessive amount of on what I used to be doing with the swing. … General, it felt fairly good at present.”

McIlroy is on the verge of wrapping up a 3rd consecutive Race to Dubai title on the DP World Tour, and he’s grouped for the primary two rounds together with his nearest rivals, Thriston Lawrence (67) and Rasmus Hojgaard (66).

McIlroy, who hasn’t performed in a month, will compete on this week’s occasion in Abu Dhabi and subsequent week’s season finale in Abu Dhabi to shut out his 2024 schedule.

Fleetwood, the present world No. 10, had eight birdies and an eagle for a 10-under 62 at Yas Hyperlinks. The Englishman is a stroke away from Thorbjorn Olesen and Johannes Veerman. Tyrrell Hatton is 2 again in a gaggle at 64.

Fleetwood is utilizing a brand new TaylorMade prototype putter this week and it paid off on Thursday.

“Putted wonderful. Felt like I learn the greens so properly,” he mentioned. “Stunning tempo management and hit quite a lot of good putts and began holing them. It labored even during to the final gap, I simply hit good putts.”