Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed share early lead at Hero Dubai Desert Classic | Golf News

Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed completed opening round 66s to take the early lead at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic; watch the Dubai Desert Classic live on Sky Sports on Saturday from 4am

Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed overcame their pre-tournament war of words to set the clubhouse target during the opening round of the weather-affected Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

McIlroy returned to play his final three holes in four under par to complete a brilliant opening-round 66 at Emirates Golf Club, where six hours of play was lost on Thursday before Friday’s action was delayed to a flooded course.

The world No 1 birdied the seventh and produced a stunning hole-out eagle from the sand at the par-four next, before a birdie at the last put him on six under alongside Reed at the top of the leaderboard.

Despite taking the early lead, McIlroy was not impressed with his « rusty » golf in the opening round.

« I struggled out there most of yesterday, » said McIlroy. « I thought did I well to be under par by the end of the day.

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Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy open up on their performances to start this year as they get moved closer together at the Dubai Desert Classic.

« I fought back after some very sloppy rusty golf over the first sort of 14 holes. And then yeah, today I came out and I don’t really know if anything clicked because I don’t think I hit enough shots to know. But it was definitely needed.

« Like I would have been happy with anything around 70 the way I played, and then to come in and shoot 66 is quite the bonus. »

Reed finished off his final two holes on Friday with a 15-foot eagle on the last, five birdies on the second, fourth, fifth, 12th, and 14th also helping him complete an opening-round 66.

« I’m obviously really happy with the way I played, » said Reed. « I felt like last week wasn’t really a reflection of all the hard work I’ve been doing in the off-season.

« It was more getting rusty on playing tournament golf. So to come out this week and feel like I was able to putt everything together and to have my mind right on game planning and course management was definitely a plus.

« I’ve never seen this place before, and coming in and seeing it for the first time and knowing and kind of realising that it’s more of a positional golf course rather than just hit it wherever, and I feel like I had full control of the golf ball and made a couple putts. »

Reed and McIlroy won’t start their second round until Saturday morning due to the delays caused by the rain, the second half of the draw yet to begin their opening round.

The opening day of play had been heavily affected by rain, causing a six hour delay

The pre-tournament build-up had been dominated by an incident between the two, with Reed throwing a tee towards McIlroy after being snubbed by the world No 1 on the practice range.

McIlroy said he had not seen the tee but had not been impressed at being subpoenaed on Christmas Eve by the lawyer who is representing Reed in a defamation lawsuit against several media members and organisations.

McIlroy’s subpoena is related to a separate civil lawsuit filed in June by Larry Klayman, which claims that Florida residents who bought tickets to PGA Tour events, or would in future, were damaged by the PGA Tour allegedly weakening fields by suspending players who joined LIV.

Watch the Hero Dubai Desert Classic throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Saturday on Sky Sports Golf at 4am.

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