Rory McIlroy shot a two-under par opening round to finish four shots behind the clubhouse lead on a part-suspended first day of play at the DP World India Championship in New Delhi. McIlroy was midway through the back nine when play was stopped for thunder and lightning in the area, with players then off the course for four hours. When play did resume at 4pm local time, McIlroy completed a round of 70 to sit tied 13th.
The world No 2 started from the par-four 10th, which he bogeyed, and went out in 34 after birdies at the 13th, 15th and 18th. He found another birdie at the second hole but followed that with a second bogey of the round at the third, before finishing with six successive pars. Denmark's Niklas Norgaard holds the clubhouse lead on six-under thanks to a 66, with McIlroy's fellow Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin one of three players at five-under with Eugenio Chacarra, who is second in the Race to Dubai standings.
"Yeah, it was okay," McIlroy, who sits third in the Race to Dubai rankings, said of his first round. "I felt like I hit the ball pretty well for the most part. Missed a few putts early on, got it going a little bit around the middle and then maybe missed a couple opportunities when we came back out after the delay.
"So overall, it felt like it could have been a couple better but still a solid start. No one's really getting away. "The golf course is playing a little bit tougher than it did last year just with how long the rough is.
So we'll see how much we play tomorrow, we're not sure. But yeah, it's a solid start and obviously still a lot of golf left to play." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Scottish trio Scott Jamieson, Ewen Ferguson and Bob MacIntyre all shot opening rounds of 68. Tommy Fleetwood dropped two shots at his final hole, the ninth, to finish on two-under alongside McIlroy after finding the bushes with his tee shot and having to play out sideways.
Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed was among the later groups to start after the weather delay and so only completed four holes, although was two-over already. The final four groups did not tee off at all with the first round to resume on Friday. Watch continued coverage of the DP World India Championship live on Sky Sports Golf from 7.30am on Friday.
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