Rory McIlroy had a big PGA Tour season, but he was involved in a bit of a controversy on Thursday during the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, which is part of the DP World Tour. The 37-year-old ultimately shot a 70 to begin the tournament — after initially finishing with a 68. He was awarded a two-stroke penally following a specific moment on hole 12, as the star golfer was seemingly attempting to improve his lie, video via Golf Channel.

Rory McIlroy has been assessed a two-shot penalty for improving his lie on 12 during round one in Abu Dhabi.

His double bogey on the par 4 changes to a quadruple bogey and overall score from 68 to 70 (T-33).

Here is the sequence where it occurred ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/CsJT1gFYht

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) November 5, 2026

McIlroy addressed the moment following the first round's conclusion, via DP World Tour. While he acknowledged he may have accidentally impacted the lie, he said there was “no intent” to improve it.

“They showed me a video from 12. Hit my first chip shot from down the bottom of the hill, didn't get up, came back down and rolled into a divot,” McIlroy explained. “And then I went to just sort of get a feel for the lie, the close up of the camera, you can see like a little piece of grass around the divot sort of lies down as I put my club down behind the ball. I guess the grass doesn't return to its original position. Obviously there's no intent. I play by the rules… I try to do everything that I can to never end up in these positions.

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“By looking at the video, it doesn't look very good. Obviously that wasn't my intent, I'm just trying to get a feel for the lie… I don't feel like I pressed down. But at the same time, I don't want the perception of, like, people thinking like I got away with something either. So I'm happy to take the 2-shot penalty and move on and move into tomorrow.”

Rory McIlroy admitted it did not look good on camera, but is claiming that it was an accident. In any case, McIlroy, one of the best golfers in the world, is accepting the two-shot penalty and will look to put this incident behind him.