Spieth baffled by time penalty after McIlroy duel

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is also in the UAE this week, but for him, it’s a much more routine stop-he’s a European Tour member who’s played in Abu Dhabi in each of the past eight years.

Golf world No 1 Jordan Spieth has been cautioned over exceeding the shot-making time limit at the Abu Dhabi Championship.

Birdies at the 10th and 12th followed before his first stumbles of the day, back-to-back bogeys at the 13th and 14th.

The American’s card was only spoiled by one bogey on the third, which was quickly rectified by two consecutive birdies, along with an eagle on the eighth, which set him on his way to his current one shot lead.

Now world No 1 Spieth wants to see United States of America take a more positive approach at home in Hazeltine, Minnesota this September, with a younger side with less mental “scar tissue”. “I know if I do that, hopefully there s a lot of wins to come”.

Spieth has been grouped with McIlroy and Rickie Fowler for the first two rounds in Abu Dhabi and added: “We very rarely get this pairing and very rarely will going forward, so we’ll take advantage and try and really feed off each other”.

“It’s a great way to start the year”, he said.

Bryson DeChambeau was still in high school when he told his father: “I think I can change the game of golf”.

The win started a torrid run that culminated with Spieth slipping into a green jacket on Sunday afternoon at the Masters: his first major win.

“It’s still a long way until Hazeltine, but if we can continue what we’ve been doing over this past year in young American golf, we’re going to go in and get in that team room and be pretty excited about who is next to us”.

McIlroy admitted he loves to tee-off his season in Abu Dhabi, and has been paired in a glittering three-ball opening round with Spieth and Fowler, who returns for his second consecutive year. So to shoot four under with the way I felt with my driver is spectacular.

Spieth used terminology that is in play on the PGA Tour, where players are warned if the group is out of position, with an accumulation of bad times leading to fines that are not announced. “I had a couple get away from me on the first hole but kind of started to find form a little bit towards the end of the round. Nine holes Monday and nine holes Tuesday and that’s all you need if you understand the golf course – you have contour maps and everything like that it makes it super simple, super smooth to get the golf course figured out”.

Henrik Stenson birdied five of his last eight holes in his first round since keyhole surgery on his right knee in December, and was alone in second place at 7 under. “I’ve not heard one person, one Tour player complain about it. And most of the guys that are really talking highly of it are the older guys, oddly enough”. And that’s hardly the best time for something as ponderous as slow play to at it’s height, considering that’s when the most eyeballs are on golf.