{"id":1248885,"date":"2024-01-11T12:58:09","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T12:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/rory-mcilroy-starts-new-campaign-with-flawless-opening-62-at-dubai-invitational\/"},"modified":"2024-01-12T14:21:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T14:21:48","slug":"rory-mcilroy-starts-new-campaign-with-flawless-opening-62-at-dubai-invitational","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/rory-mcilroy-starts-new-campaign-with-flawless-opening-62-at-dubai-invitational\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy starts new campaign with flawless opening 62 at Dubai Invitational"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rory McIlroy exceeded his expectations as he started his 2024 season with a flawless opening 62 in the inaugural Dubai Invitational.<\/p>\n<p>Competing for the first time since finishing a distant 22nd in the DP World Tour Championship, McIlroy looked anything but rusty as he recorded nine birdies at Dubai Creek Resort to open up a two-shot lead over Germany\u2019s Yannik Paul.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Rory McIlroy Round 1 Highlights | 2024 Dubai Invitational\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tU9UPGEd7YU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Paul carded eight birdies and a solitary bogey in his 64, with South Africa\u2019s\u00a0Thriston Lawrence on six under and Tommy Fleetwood and Thorbjorn Olesen another stroke back.<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy, who will defend his Dubai Desert Classic title next week, told Sky Sports: \u201cI didn\u2019t expect that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel quite as good as that the first couple of days when I was here hitting balls and playing the course but it was nice to get a card in the hand again and feel the competitive juices flowing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI surprised myself a little bit but hopefully more of the same over the next few days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the wind gets up it can get a little bit tricky. We played the first 12 or 13 holes basically without any wind and then there was a little coming in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think you just have to miss it in the right spots, there\u2019s some water here and there and I think I did a good job today of managing my misses on the right side and when I did hit good shots I was available to take advantage of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The tournament features a 72-hole strokeplay tournament played alongside a three-day pro-am team event, with Sunday featuring professionals only.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese pro-ams I either play with my dad or this week I\u2019m playing with the tournament host so there\u2019s maybe added pressure there as well to go out and perform, but it\u2019s a very easy way to get back into things,\u201d McIlroy added<a href=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/rory-mcilroy-keen-to-find-final-piece-of-the-puzzle-with-major-victory-in-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a nice week to do some extra practice and put some work in so that I feel a bit more ready, not just for next week which is obviously a bigger event, but also going into the bulk of the season<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GolfTodayUK\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rory McIlroy keen to find \u2018final piece of the puzzle\u2019 with major victory in 2024<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>McIlroy looked anything but rusty as he recorded nine birdies at Dubai Creek Resort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1248886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,29],"tags":[98,9866,9865,3702,9051,105],"class_list":["post-1248885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dp-world-tour","category-the_tours","tag-dp-world-tour","tag-dubai-creek-resort","tag-dubai-invitational","tag-inaugural-event","tag-pa-news","tag-rory-mcilroy","priority_tax-homepage-slider"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.3 (Yoast SEO v23.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dubai Invitational 2024 R1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rory McIlroy starts new campaign with flawless opening 62 at Dubai Invitational, looked anything but rusty as he recorded nine birdies\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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