Rory McIlroy had a dent put in his Race to Dubai title hopes in Abu Dhabi.

The Northern Irishman appeared to have gotten off to a solid start to the Abu Dhabi Championship at Yas Links. He walked off the 18th green at four-under par, six strokes back of the leading Francesco Laporta.

But soon after his round ended, McIlroy was assessed a two-stroke penalty for something he did on the 12th hole during his opening round.

Rory McIlroy assessed two-stroke penalty in Abu Dhabi

McIlroy is currently listed on the leaderboard at two-under par, despite initially shooting four-under for the day. A video circulated on social media that appeared to show him improving his lie in the rough on the par four 12th hole.

The ball had just rolled back to his feet after a chip shot came up short, and the back-to-back Masters champion appeared to pat the grass behind his ball down with his wedge before hitting it again.

In the Rules of Golf, rule 8.1 states that a player must not take actions that artificially improve the conditions affecting their stroke. This includes: Moving, bending, or breaking any growing or attached natural objects (like grass, branches, or weeds); pressing down or smoothing down loose soil, sand, or turf; and creating or eliminating irregularities of the surface.

Players are legally allowed to take a fair stance. However, you are not entitled to a normal stance or swing if it forces you to violate the surroundings. If you bend or break surrounding rough more than what is reasonably necessary to fairly establish your footing, you are in breach of the rule.

Breaching Rule 8.1 results in a two-stroke penalty, which is what was assessed to McIlroy. This turned his double-bogey six into a quadruple-bogey eight.

It’s the same rule that Bryson DeChambeau was penalized for breaching at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

About DeChambeau’s penalty, which he protested to rules officials long into the night, McIlroy said at the time, “I think there’s no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing.

“Again, it’s like, whether it was careless or whether it was intentional, I don’t think it matters. Hopefully it was careless, but I think the two-shot penalty was justified for sure.”

Rory McIlroy responds to being given a two-stroke penalty

Unlike DeChambeau, McIlroy didn’t protest. Speaking after his round, he said that he didn’t intend to improve his lie, but admitted that the footage is still damning, and he accepted his penalty. 

The 37-year-old said, “Yeah. 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.

“And then as I went to sort of just get a feel for the lie, the close-up of the camera, you can see like a little piece of grass around the divot sort of lies down as I put my club down behind the ball, and it doesn’t — I guess the grass doesn’t return back to its original position.

“And I doubt like- 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.

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

“The ball is in a sort of bottom of a sandy divot. I’m trying to feel like if I can get a 54-degree, like, onto the back of the ball, but in the process, this piece of grass has sort of laid down, and it doesn’t — you know, the technical — I guess the technical term for the rule is if you press down on the piece.

“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.”

It’s a blow for McIlroy as he contends for the Race to Dubai title with Patrick Reed and Eugenio Chacarra, but luckily for him, he still has three days to make amends.