Rory McIlroy: Shooting a 66 comes a lot easier for me these days

It is a mark of how far his come in six short years when World No. 1 Rory McIlroy says he now expects to shoot a score of 66 as he did on the first day of the Dubai Desert Classic.

McIlroy posted seven birdies in round one, including birding the opening two holes, before ending with a bogey to be sharing sixth place with double Dubai defending Stephen Gallacher and five others.

Austrian Bernd Weisberger, third last week in Qatar, birdied five holes in succession near the end of his round in an eight under par 64 to lead by a stroke from four players including the England duo of Lee Westwood and Andy Sullivan along with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts and American Peter Uhlein.