{"id":372804,"date":"2026-01-16T06:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/372804\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T06:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:48:13","slug":"rory-mcilroy-leads-by-1-stroke-after-dubai-invitational-1st-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/372804\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy leads by 1 stroke after Dubai Invitational 1st round"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Rory McIlroy<\/a> posted a 5-under 66 to lead by one stroke after the first round of the Dubai Invitational on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Scotsman Connor Syme<\/a> and Spaniard David Puig<\/a> were tied behind the Northern Irishman in second place, and English golfer Matt Wallace<\/a> dropped two shots back into a five-way tie for third after late struggles.<\/p>\n

Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood<\/a> was three back in a tie for ninth in a large group including American Patrick Reed<\/a>. He is among three players on the LIV Golf squad a year ago playing in Dubai.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

As the European tour resumed following five events at the end of 2025, McIlroy made a fast start with four birdies in the first five holes on the par-71 course at Dubai Creek Resort.<\/p>\n

“I got off to a great start, played a very good first nine. Then the wind got up a little bit and it felt like that front nine, which was our second nine, was the trickier one,” said McIlroy, who had seven birdies. “I made a silly bogey on three and then didn’t capitalize on the par five after that. I felt like I left a few out on that side (but) overall a nice way to start the year.”<\/p>\n

Syme had five birdies and a bogey.<\/p>\n

“I really had my ball under control, so hopefully I can keep that up,” he said. “There’s probably no better place to be at the moment than out here in Dubai. It’s obviously a very similar format to the Dunhill back in Scotland, but just about 25 degrees warmer.”<\/p>\n

Wallace started his round with a bogey then made a neat chip from the edge of the green for an eagle on the fourth hole.<\/p>\n

He made five birdies before his momentum was halted by a bogey on No. 12. He lost his way and the lead after a double bogey on No. 16 and a bogey on the 18th.<\/p>\n

Fleetwood recovered from a double bogey and a bogey on the front nine by finishing his opening round with two birdies.<\/p>\n

The tournament is held every other year. Two years ago, Fleetwood benefited from two huge errors on the back nine from McIlroy to win the tournament following a back-and-forth final-round duel.<\/p>\n

Next week sees the Dubai Desert Classic, which McIlroy has won four times. He has also won the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai three times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Rory McIlroy posted a 5-under 66 to lead by one stroke after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-372804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}