McIlroy fires 11 birdies to recover from Abu Dhabi penalty

Rory McIlroy moved into contention at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship on Thursday with an 11-birdie second round that took him to 11 under par, according to Sky Sports Golf.

The display came a day after McIlroy had been handed a two-shot penalty in the first round for improving his lie on the 12th hole, a ruling confirmed by both Golf Monthly and Yahoo Sports.

McIlroy had attempted to chip up a steep slope to the green on the par-four 12th, only for the ball to roll back down and settle in a divot in the rough, Golf Monthly reported.

As he addressed the ball for his next attempt, his club was seen flattening some of the grass behind it, with officials later ruling that this had improved his lie.

What had been a double-bogey six on the hole was adjusted to a quadruple-bogey eight, turning his four-under round of 68 into a two-under 70 and leaving him tied for 33rd, Golf Monthly reported.

McIlroy was shown close-up footage of the incident after his round and addressed it directly with reporters.

"They showed me a video from 12," said McIlroy, explaining the incident, before detailing how the grass around the divot had shifted as he set his club down behind the ball.

"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," he said, according to Golf Monthly.

"But just by looking at the video, like it doesn't look very good. Obviously that wasn't my intent. I'm just trying to get a feel for the lie," he added.

He went on to explain the circumstances in detail, before accepting the ruling: "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 a two-shot penalty and move on and move into tomorrow."

Golf Monthly noted that the penalty was a significant setback given his original 68 would have been two shots better than Race To Dubai leader Eugenio Chacarra, though the Spaniard's own round was not detailed further in that report.

McIlroy duly moved into tomorrow, as he had put it, and did so with his best form of the week.

His second-round 11-birdie haul lifted him to 11 under par overall and into contention, according to Sky Sports Golf, a marked turnaround from the frustration of the opening day.

Attention now turns to the weekend rounds of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, running from 5 to 8 November, with McIlroy well placed after erasing much of the damage from Thursday's penalty.