Frustrated McIlroy claims ‘moral victory’

For a second time in three years Rory McIlroy has seen Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship glory snatched from his grasp due to a rules blunder.

Two years ago, Luke Donald picked McIlroy up on a rules infringement during the final round that saw the Irish star lose out by a stroke to England’s Robert Rock.

Now, after McIlroy incurred a two-shot penalty on day three of this year’s event in not taking ‘full relief’ from a spectator crossing point, a lack of understanding of the Rules of Golf came back to haunt him again in losing out by one stroke to playing partner and close friend Pablo Larrazabal of Spain.

Larrazabal shot a last day 67 for a 14-under par tally and McIlroy a 68 to share second on 13-under par with Phil Mickelson who called a penalty on himself after a ‘double hit’ playing out of bushes at 13.

“I can’t describe how frustrating it is and feeling like I should be standing here at 15-under par for the tournament and winning by one,” said McIlroy.

“But that’s the way it goes. I played the least shots of anyone this week. So, I mean, I count it as a moral victory more than anything else.

“It is a very positive start to the season and I’m not going to let one little negative ruin that.

“I was able to put behind me what happened on Saturday but when I finished one behind on the 18th it started to dawn on me if that I would have won without that penalty.

“But Pablo played well, and I can’t take anything away from him.

“When he needed to, he hit the shots, and the two shots he hit into 18 were straight out of the drawer, so fair play to him.”

It had been brought to McIlroy’s attention on Saturday by Scotland-born caddy Dave Renwick he had not taken ‘full relief’ from a spectator walkway, and with the two-stroke penalty seeing him start the final round of his first event of 2014 three shots behind instead of just one.

While McIlroy had no animosity towards Renwick, the multiple-winning bagman penned a note and left it in McIlroy’s locker.

“If I hadn’t said anything and Rory won the tournament by a shot, that wouldn’t have been right and I couldn’t have lived with myself,” said Renwick at the close of play. “So that’s why I put a letter, a nice short one on his locker, saying that I’m sure he would appreciate what I did was in good faith. It was pleasing to hear that he’d said there was no animosity as we’ve all got to adhere to the rules.”

There had been some joy early Sunday for McIlroy with his fiancée Caroline Wozniacki surprising him in jetting in from Melbourne where she had been knocked out after three rounds of the Australian Open.

McIlroy was returning to nearby Dubai to also meet up with coach, Michael Bannon for further practice at the Els Club ahead of facing Tiger Woods in the Dubai Desert Classic at the end of the month.

“Despite what happened I feel good about my game and feel like I’m back to the place that I want to be. I’m driving the ball well, hitting the ball solidly and giving myself plenty of chances for birdies.

The effort has seen McIlroy move straight into 17th on the Race to Dubai and the likelihood of one place, to eighth overall on the top-nine of the European Ryder Cup team automatic qualifiers.

Fellow Ulsterman Michael Hoey (73) shared 10th on seven under par while Paul McGinley (70) was a shot further back. And Darren Clarke’s new putter ended the round in two pieces after Clarke shot weekend rounds of 72 and 73 for a share of 52nd at level par.

Ballyclare’s Gareth Maybin (73) was at two-over par and Damien McGrane (76) in second last spot at four over.