McIlroy receives two-stroke penalty for alleged lie improvement, posts quadruple bogey at Abu Dhabi

Rory McIlroy incurred a two-stroke penalty on Thursday at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship after officials determined he had improved his lie on the par-4 12th hole. The penalty turned his initial six on the hole into a quadruple-bogey eight, leaving him with a 2-under 70 for the round.

McIlroy explained that after his third shot landed in a sandy divot, he placed his wedge behind the ball and unintentionally pressed down the surrounding grass. "They showed me a video from 12. Hit my first chip shot from down on the bottom of the hill, then get up, came back down and rolled into a divot," he said, adding that the grass did not return to its original position when he set his club down.

"Obviously there’s no intent. I play by the rules. I feel like this is never really — I try to do everything that I can to never end up in these positions."

He emphasized that he did not intend to gain an advantage and was merely trying to gauge the lie of the ball. "I’m happy to take a two-shot penalty and move on and move into tomorrow," McIlroy said.

Despite the penalty, McIlroy recorded six birdies and no other dropped shots. His total placed him eight shots behind leader Francesco Laporta and tied with Eugenio Chacarra in the Race to Dubai standings.

Chacarra, who finished the round tied with McIlroy, expressed disagreement with the penalty, stating he did not believe McIlroy had improved his lie. "In the video, it doesn’t look great, but we’ve been watching Rory for a long time, and he’s a class man and never tries to improve his lies or do anything," he told reporters.

"I know he’s going to go fired up tomorrow. That’s going to fire him up, and he’s going to probably shoot the lowest round of the day tomorrow."

The incident highlights the strict enforcement of rules regarding lie improvement in professional golf.