Rory McIlroy hit with two-stroke penalty for improving lie in rules snafu at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship
Warren Little
Rory McIlroy was assessed a two-stroke penalty for improving his lie following his first round of the DP World Tour's Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship on Thursday.
The incident occurred at the par-4 12th at Yas Links GC, where the two-time Masters winner was greenside in two facing a difficult third from the rough into an upslope. McIlroy attempted to bump it into the hill and chase it onto the green, only to watch it roll all the way back down into nearly the exact same spot he had just hit from.
In a video of the infraction, the camera zooms in and captures McIlroy tamping his wedge down behind the golf ball. McIlroy then walks up to take another look at the green before going back to play his fourth, which he hit to 14 feet. He two-putted for what was, at the time, a double-bogey 6.
McIlroy went on to birdie three of the last six holes to salvage a four-under 68, but that score was changed to a 70 after the round when he was assessed the two-stroke penalty from the incident on 12, changing his double-bogey 6 to a quadruple-bogey 8.
Here's the video:
The video seems to show a clump of grass behind McIlroy's ball be pushed down by his club and then remain down, which rules officials deemed a violation of Rule 8.1b(4).
Here's a statement from the DP World Tour about the ruling:
The penalty saw McIlroy drop from T-13 to T-33. This comes as McIlroy is in the midst of trying to win the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai title for a record tying eighth time. McIlroy is currently third in the points standings, trailing Eugenio Charcarra and Patrick Reed, with this week's tournament and next week's DP World Tour Championship the final two events on the 2026 schedule.
McIlroy, who was shown the video after the round, said he did not intend to improve his lie, but admitted it wasn't a great look.
"Obviously there's no intent. I play by the rules," McIlroy said. "I feel like this is never really … I try to do everything that I can to never end up in these positions.
"But just by looking at the video, it doesn't look very good. Obviously that wasn't my intent. I'm just trying to get a feel for the lie. The ball is in a sort of bottom of a sandy divot. I'm trying to feel like if I can get a 54-degree, like, onto the back of the ball, but in the process, this piece of grass has sort of laid down, and it doesn't … I guess the technical term for the rule is if you press down on the piece.
"I don't feel like I pressed down," he continued. "But at the same time, I don't want the perception of, like, people thinking like I got away with something either. So I'm happy to take a two-shot penalty and move on and move into tomorrow."
The irony here is that Rule 8.1 is the same one that Bryson DeChambeau was found to have violated during the third round of the Open Championship in July. After DeChambeau's penalty, McIlroy came out strongly in support of the penalty, characterizing DeChambeau's actions at Royal Birkdale as "performative."