Rory McIlroy conceded that video of the incident which brought him a two-shot penalty in the first round of the Abu Dhabi Championship at Yas Links "doesn't look very good."

The world No 2 found trouble at the par-4 12th, where his chip shot failed to make it up onto the elevated green and instead rolled back down the hill into the rough.

His ball settled in a divot, and McIlroy pressed his club down behind it before walking forward to take a look at the green. After the round had finished, rules officials ruled that McIlroy had improved his lie and handed him a two-shot penalty.

"There's no intent. I play by the rules," McIlroy said. "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."

The penalty turned what had been a double bogey at the 12th into a quadruple-bogey 8.

"Obviously that wasn't my intent. I'm just trying to get a feel for the lie," he said. "In the process, this piece of grass has sort of laid down. 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 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."

McIlroy signed for a 2-under-par 70, leaving him eight shots behind the leader, Italy's Francesco Laporta, going into the second round on Friday.

The tournament at Yas Links is the first of the DP World Tour's two-event playoffs, and McIlroy is chasing a record-tying eighth Race to Dubai title. He sits third in the standings, behind Eugenio Chacarra and the American Patrick Reed.

Despite the penalty, McIlroy goes into the second round level with Chacarra and four shots clear of Reed.

The three men are playing together for the first two rounds, and Chacarra admitted to feeling some nerves while also getting used to a new driver after the one he had used since February broke during Wednesday's pro-am.

"It was a long day. Obviously it wasn't easy to play with two of my idols, and I knew as I started a little bit nervous," Chacarra said. "I learned a lot. It was a pleasure to play with Rory. Obviously, he's a tremendous player, but he's also an amazing person, everything that I ask and how he is on the course."

Chacarra and McIlroy share 33rd place, with several marquee players above them on the leaderboard.

Among them is Spain's Jon Rahm, who is tied for second after a bogey-free 7-under 65 in his first competitive round for seven weeks and his first-ever round at Yas Links.

But for the quadruple bogey, McIlroy's card would also have been bogey-free.

Chacarra expects his idol to be "fired up" on Friday, while McIlroy is treating the run-in as a two-week battle to the Race to Dubai finish line.

"It's not just this week, it's next week as well," he said. "They're both their own individual tournaments, but you're almost trying to treat it like any other event, just trying to build on each and every day.

"I felt like I could have got off to a better start today, but as I said, I felt like I saw enough encouraging signs in my game to go in and shoot a good one tomorrow and try to get myself back in the tournament."