Howell in the mix in Abu Dhabi (From This Is Wiltshire)

World number three McIlroy was playing for the first time since winning the DP World Tour Championship in November and the Northern Irishman’s performance impressed American Spieth.

Players will still have to tee off in long pants in tournaments, although even that may change one day. Not bad for an amateur making only his seventh start in a professional tournament, and his first on the regular European Tour – through a sponsor’s invitation. Pelley asked the Tour’s referee staff – led by John Paramor – to come up with new ways to tackle the problem, and this week a “monitoring” system has been introduced which is running alongside the usual method of identifying and punishing culprits with shot penalties.

World number three Rory McIlroy has weighed in to the debate about golf being on the programme for Rio 2016, claiming he has “never dreamed of competing in the Olympics or winning an Olympic medal” while suggesting a fifth major title would mean more than a podium finish at this year’s Games.

The world number five, who holds the course record of 62 in Abu Dhabi, closed with a bogey after failing to make an up-and-down from the bunker on the ninth hole, but that was his only blemish the whole day.

“I think there’s two ways of going forward”, Spieth said.

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”.

ABU DHABI – Former world No 1 Rory McIlroy said he was excited to start his new season in the company of the reigning world No1 Jordan Spieth.

The European Tour has taken it a step further. Jordan was assessed a monitoring penalty after his putt on the eighth hole’.

It was the first round since the European Tour modified its Pace of Play policy – and officials made an example of Spieth, the biggest name in golf.

“It’s unsure and it will be I think unsure for 10 to 20 years how significant a gold medal will be in golf”, he said. “Sometimes the refs have to use common sense”. Jordan almost took me out – we collided halfway down the fairway.

The last time Abu Dhabi played host to such a major blockbuster event director JJ Abrams and his crew were filming “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” out in Rub’ al Khali desert.

“It didn’t make any sense to me”, said Spieth, who finished with 4-under 68, four shots behind leader amateur Bryson DeChambeau. “I could not be happier”. It’s the way I’ve been playing. “But as long as you can get just a little bit better each year, then the results will come”. The 22-year-old from California tests the balance of his golf balls as routine in Epsom salts and, to assist with posture, has a set of irons with all shafts the exact same length.