Rory McIlroy must recover from “the worst I could have shot” if his bid to land a first Falcon Trophy results in Abu Dhabi delight.

The Masters champion and grand slam great opened pursuit of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship with a 68 around Yas Links to sit four off the early leaders and reflect “that was hopefully the bad round out of the way”.

“It was okay...I felt like I gave myself a lot of chances on the back nine (but) just didn't really convert,” said the Northern Ireland favourite after three birdies on the front nine and two heading home. “Hitting good putts but just mostly under-reading them, then not to birdie the last after where I was off the tee was a little disappointing.

“You know, that was hopefully the bad round out of the way…there's three more rounds to try to take it a bit lower."

placeholder image — Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy speaks with a Rules Official on the first hole during his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship opening round at Yas Links. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

He added: “It could have been a lot better, I missed a lot of opportunities on the way in...I felt like I hit good putts - 12, 13, 14, 17 and then the last there.

“It could have been much better...felt like it's the worst I could have shot, so I guess that's a positive in a way.

"Need to hole a few more of those 10-to15-footers tomorrow.”

McIlroy is tackling the United Arab Emirates tournament with a key club change and stayed upbeat overall ahead of the second round.

“Just trying to work my way through the gears right now...it's getting there,” he said. "Hopefully that's my sort of worst round out of the way...but it wasn't terrible by all means.

“I felt like the driver was good...obviously a new driver in the bag this week, felt like that worked well.

"Hit some good iron shots, felt like I controlled my ball in the wind pretty well when the wind got up there a little bit for the last few holes.

"Just need to hole a few more putts, I think that was the difference between what I shot today and being up there around the lead.

“It played a little more difficult (following a late wind change) and then especially coming in, there's a couple of tricky holes...15, 16, 17 are three good holes and then the last plays tricky with the wind off the left.

“It just makes you think a little bit...it's not very difficult but you have to have your wits about you.”