Rory McIlroy returns to form at Dubai Desert Classic

Barrage of birdies with the help of a hot driver helps Northern Irishman to a brilliant 63 in the first round of the Dh9.18m tournament.

Rory McIlroy had a poor run in 2013, but the Northern Irishman seems to be getting back to his best. Ali Haider / EPA

DUBAI // It was comprehensive, clinical and looked laughably easy.

In fact, it was impossible to dispute any of those assertions, though Rory McIlroy warned that appearances can be somewhat deceiving.

Only a few weeks removed from a lengthy drought in which he fell from first to sixth in the world rankings, McIlroy strafed the field in the first round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic with a 9-under 63 yesterday, reminding the world of how he got to No 1 in the first place.

McIlroy, who claimed a two-shot lead of Italy’s Edoardo Molinari, overpowered one of the longest-tenured tracks on the European Tour, cutting the corners of doglegs at Emirates Golf Club with a series of crushing tee shots, reducing a 7,344-yard course into a rip-it-and-chip-it venue.

With seven birdies and an eagle, it was an impressively clean, low-strain affair, and it looked close to effortless.

“I don’t think it’s ever easy,” McIlroy said. “It can feel easier than it has in the past, but you still have to work hard. I’ve worked really hard in the last couple of months to get to this point.

“OK, it may feel easy and these scores may look somewhat routine, but there’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes to actually be able to go out and shoot scores like this.”

That might be irrefutable fact with a sprinkle of semantics, but the fact remains that McIlroy played so well yesterday that the notion of making a bogey seemed practically ludicrous.

Playing partner and defending champion Stephen Gallacher, who shot 66 and is tied for third, was impressed. “He played so good,” Gallacher acknowledged, “he made 9 under look easy.”

Ah, that four-letter word again.

With his parents and girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki in the gallery, McIlroy posted his lowest career round at the Majlis Course, where he won his first European Tour title five years ago, and one of his most impressive scores in months.

McIlroy, encamped in the UAE for the past month, certainly has found a home at Emirates, where he twice played in the Desert Classic as an amateur.

Outside of Scotland’s St Andrews, McIlroy could not name another tournament course where he felt similarly at ease.

“I don’t know, you just get certain golf courses, you just see the shots,” he said.

“You read the greens well. Just have a certain feeling.”

It helps that the core of his game, the driver, has returned after a nine-month absence in 2013, when McIlroy dropped from first to sixth in the world ranking.

Even on holes requiring huge carries to clear certain hazards, McIlroy was taking on the challenge and executing without a hiccup.

“The ones that are 300-yard carries or whatever, you can take on a little bit more than some of the other guys,” McIlroy said.

Make that nearly all of the other guys. For a prototype power player like McIlroy, it all starts with the driver, and he finally found one to his liking last fall and has been gradually climbing the confidence ladder since.

“When a guy that talented gets his game back, he will dominate,” said Fred Couples, the 1995 Dubai champion.

“It is just a matter of for how long and if you can just keep away from people talking about it, you’ll do fine.”

The view of the Northern Irishman’s day from inside the ropes was the same.

McIlroy hit 12 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens, though the misses were by easily tolerable margins. For instance, he even rammed in a 25-foot birdie putt from the fringe on his 16th hole.

“He’s playing better,” Woods said after opening with a 68.

“A lot better.”

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