IN-FORM: Firing seven birdies and an eagle, McIlroy continued his storming start to the season. Photo: AFP
Firing seven birdies and an eagle, the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland continued his storming start to the season which saw him take second place at Abu Dhabi two weeks ago, his first tournament since winning the Australian Open in early December.
It was a flawless display of golf that left playing partner Tiger Woods in the shade, although the world number one was happy to settle for a four-under 68 in what is also his second tournament of the year.
The third member of the group, defending champion Stephen Gallacher of Scotland, was also high up the early leader board with a 66.
McIlroy said that the round and score was one of his finest for a while.
"Definitely up there. Controlled my irons a little better (than at Abu Dhabi), distance control was better,” he said.
Nice to play well again: Woods
Woods, meanwhile, started well with four birdies down the back nine and while he struggled for accuracy off the tee on the way in, his short game was good enough to avoid any bogeys.
"Overall it was a pretty good score. Maybe could have gotten two more out of it," said Woods. "I hit a lot of good putts which was nice. It was nice to actually play well again.”
In-form South African Richard Sterne was level with the Frenchman and Gallacher, while joining Woods on 68 were Scotland's Paul Lawrie, Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark and South African Hennie Otto.
Among the starters in the afternoon were South African veteran and record three-time winner of the Dubai Desert Classic Ernie Els playing alongside world number three Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark.
Both Stenson and Els though got off to poor starts with bogeys at the first hole, before the big Swede dropped another shot at the second.
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