Rory McIlroy shares the lead with Patrick Reed after finishing his rain-delayed opening round at the Dubai Desert Classic on six-under-par.
The Hollywood man produced a stunning finish to his round on Friday, shooting birdie-eagle-birdie as he picked up four shots in the final three holes to secure an opening round 66.
An eagle from Reed on the final hole saw the American take a share of the lead going into Saturday.
READ MORE: Patrick Reed slams "assassination" over Rory McIlroy incident as he flicks tee at reporters
Following a second delay of the week due to flooding at Emirates Golf Club, McIlroy returned to the course facing a short birdie putt on the par-three seventh, his 16th hole.
The world number one calmly holed from four feet, then holed out from a fairway bunker on the eighth for an unlikely eagle and rounded off his morning’s work in style with another birdie on the difficult ninth.
That gave the two-time winner a six-under-par 66 which was matched in brilliant fashion by Reed, the former Masters champion finishing on the other side of the course by holing from 15 feet for eagle on the par-five 18th.
“Honestly not very good,” McIlroy said when asked to assess his overall performance. “I struggled out there most of yesterday.
“I thought did I well to be under par by the end of the day. I fought back after some very sloppy, rusty golf over the first sort of 14 holes.
“And then 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.
“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.”
As for the eagle on the eighth, McIlroy added: “I wouldn’t say I’m the best fairway bunker player in the world. The desert is a little nicer, it’s a little more packed down, so you get some better lies.
“All I was thinking about was catching it clean. As soon as I struck it, I knew it came out really nicely and it was right down the pin. Again, anything inside of 20 feet, I would have been happy with, so that was certainly a bonus.”
Reed had completed 16 holes of his first round in four under on Thursday and resumed on Friday with a par on the short par-four 17th before a closing eagle.
“I’m obviously really happy with the way I played,” Reed said. “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 put everything together and to have my mind right on game planning and course management was definitely a plus.”
The pair were involved in an incident on the driving range ahead of this week's tournament when Reed threw a tee at the world number one.
McIlroy insisted he did not feel the need to acknowledge Reed after the incident in the Middle East.
Asked what had happened in his pre-tournament press conference, McIlroy said: “I was down by my bag and he came up to me, and I was busy working and sort of doing my practice, and I didn’t really feel like… I didn’t feel the need to acknowledge him.
“So I didn’t see a tee coming my direction at all, but apparently that’s what happened. And if roles were reversed and I’d have thrown that tee at him, I’d be expecting a lawsuit.”
That was a reference to the legal action Reed is taking on several fronts following his decision to join the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series.
The former Masters champion is one of 13 players involved in an arbitration case with the DP World Tour over sanctions imposed for playing the first LIV event last June and has also launched a defamation lawsuit against several media members and organisations.
The lawyer representing Reed in that case also subpoenaed McIlroy and Tiger Woods in regards to the players-only meeting that was held prior to the BMW Championship in August.
The subpoenas are part of a 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.
Asked if it was naive of Reed to expect a warm welcome given the circumstances, McIlroy told Sky Sports: “I was subpoenaed by his lawyer on Christmas Eve.
“So of course, trying to have a nice time with my family and someone shows up on your doorstep and delivers that, you’re not going to take that well.
“I’m living in reality, I don’t know where he’s living. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t expect a hello or a handshake.”
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