Sensible finishes from Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed raised the tantalizing prospect of a showdown between the pair because the Hero Dubai Desert Basic headed for a Monday end.
Following a second delay of the week as a consequence of flooding at Emirates Golf Membership, McIlroy returned to the course on Friday going through a brief birdie putt on the par-three seventh, his sixteenth gap.
The world primary calmly transformed from 4 ft, then holed out from a fairway bunker on the eighth for an unlikely eagle and rounded off his morning’s work in model with one other birdie on the troublesome ninth.
That gave the two-time winner a six-under-par 66 which was matched by Reed, the previous Masters champion ending on the opposite facet of the course by holing from 15 ft for eagle on the par-five 18th.
By the point the primary spherical was belatedly concluded, McIlroy and Reed discovered themselves a shot behind world primary amateurs Ludvig Aberg and Ian Poulter, who each shot 65 and loved a short break earlier than beginning spherical two.
Poulter coated his first three holes in a single below par to share the lead with fellow LIV participant Richard Bland at eight below, Bland beginning with three straight birdies earlier than play was suspended because of the fading gentle.
Match officers then introduced that the second spherical could be accomplished on Saturday, with the third spherical going down on Sunday and the fourth on Monday.
“Truthfully not superb,” McIlroy stated when requested to evaluate his general efficiency. “I struggled on the market most of yesterday.
“I believed did I nicely to be below par by the tip of the day. I fought again after some very sloppy, rusty golf over the primary type of 14 holes.
“After which at present I got here out and I do not actually know if something clicked as a result of I do not assume I hit sufficient photographs to know. Nevertheless it was positively wanted.
“I’d have been proud of something round 70 the way in which I performed, after which to return in and shoot 66 is sort of the bonus.”
As for the eagle on the eighth, McIlroy added: “I would not say I am the perfect fairway bunker participant on the planet. The desert is a little bit nicer, it is a little bit extra packed down, so that you get some higher lies.
“All I used to be fascinated by was catching it clear. As quickly as I hit it, I knew it got here out actually properly and it was proper down the pin. Once more, something inside 20 ft, I’d have been proud of, in order that was actually a bonus.”
Reed had accomplished 16 holes of his first spherical in 4 below on Thursday and resumed on Friday with a par on the quick par-four seventeenth earlier than a closing eagle.
“I am clearly actually proud of the way in which I performed,” Reed stated. “I really feel like final week wasn’t actually a mirrored image of all of the exhausting work I have been doing within the low season. It was extra getting rusty on enjoying golf tournaments.
“So to return out this week and really feel like I used to be in a position to put all the pieces collectively and to have my thoughts proper on recreation planning and course administration is unquestionably a plus.”
The pre-tournament build-up had been dominated by the confrontation between Reed and McIlroy, which emerged after Reed threw a tee in the direction of McIlroy after being snubbed by the world primary on the observe vary.
McIlroy stated he had not seen the tee however had not been impressed at being subpoenaed on Christmas Eve by the lawyer who’s representing Reed in a defamation lawsuit in opposition to a number of media members and organizations.
McIlroy’s subpoena is said to a separate civil lawsuit filed in June by Larry Klayman, which claims that Florida residents who purchased tickets to PGA Tour occasions, or would in future, have been broken by the PGA Tour probably weakening fields by suspending gamers who joined LIV.
Reed, who joined LIV throughout its inaugural occasion in June, instructed reporters the subpoena – which Klayman has additionally tried to serve on Tiger Woods – has “nothing to do with me and nothing to do with any of the lawsuits that I am part of of” and labeled McIlroy “an immature little youngster”.