Shane Lowry got off to a solid start but Rory McIlroy struggled in the opening round of the Dubai Desert Classic.
Entering off the back of a brutal disappointment on the 72nd at the Dubai Creek Resort last weekend, Lowry reacted well on Thursday with a two-under par 70 start on a tricky day for scoring at Emirates GC.
Beginning on the 10th, Lowry opened and closed his outward nine with birdies on par fives, in between draining a 17-footer for birdie on the par-four 14th but dropping strokes on the 12th, following a wayward approach, and the 16th, after a loose tee shot.
He reached two-under for the first time after getting up and down from the greenside bunker on the par-five third, but immediately gave the stroke back after three-putting the short fourth hole.
The 38-year-old found himself in an odd position at the fifth, a wild tee shot sending his ball bounding down the cart path, leaving himself with an unorthodox shot less than 100 yards away at a 450 yard par-four. He clipped a wedge to 11 feet, setting up a birdie chance which slid by.
However, he made no mistake on the eighth, finding the heart of the green from a bunker left of the fairway and sinking the 24-footer for birdie.
Shane doing Shane things 😍#HeroDubaiDesertClassic | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/FXnKif2Q0e
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 22, 2026
He currently sits tied-11th, five strokes adrift of leader Francesco Molinari, the 2018 Open Champion returning to form with a round of 65, which included six birdies in seven holes between the seventh and 14th holes.
The Italian lies two strokes ahead of Sweden's Mikael Lindberg, who's on five-under.
This morning, McIlroy got off to a less impessive start. The Masters champion, a record four-time winner of the event, which he last won in 2024, laboured to a one-over par 73 to sit well back in the pack on Day 1.
In particular, his round was blighted by a double-bogey seven at the 18th - his ninth - McIlroy having seemingly taken the water out of the equation by laying up from the rough. From less than a 100 yards, he attacked the front pin, the ball pitching short and tumbling back into the water.
The resulting double-bogey left him at two-over at the turn.
Birdies at the par-five third and the sixth - the latter after a stunning approach to gimme range - brought him back to even par. But an errant tee shot on the short seventh hole cost him another dropped stroke, and he failed to capitalise on a birdie chance at the ninth, sending a six-foot putt charging through the break.
Rory McIlroy nearly holes out for eagle at the 6th! 🎯#HeroDubaiDesertClassic | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/TQt65NoaSZ
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 22, 2026
His playing partners, defending champion Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood, carded rounds of 70 and 73 respectively.
Starting in the afternoon, Tom McKibbin and Padraig Harrington carded rounds of 71 and 72 respectively.
LIV player McKibbin, who booked his spot at this year's Masters with a win in Hong Kong in November, began with two birdies and two bogeys in his opening five holes but was a model of colourless consistency from there. A solitary birdie at the short 11th hole sees him at one-under at the conclusion of the first round.
The 54-year old Harrington got to two-under on the back nine on the second and the 10th but two dropped strokes in his final five holes saw him finish at even par.
The Dubliner, who won the US Senior Open and the Senior Open Championship, recorded his best finish in the event in 2001, coming tied-second alongside Tiger Woods, two strokes behind winner Thomas Bjorn.
