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Both Brian Harman and Rory McIlroy were off to blistering starts at the Dubai Desert Classic, but that all came to a crashing end. Not only was play suspended, but the final few holes for each of them resulted in disaster and completely altered their outlook for the round.
The World No. 2 golfer bogeyed three of his last four holes to shoot one under 71. Harman finished bogey-par-double to end with the same score following the conclusion of his first day as well.
Both these golfers were within four strokes of the leaders: Li Haotong, Andy Sullivan, Rasmus Hojgaard and Cameron Young. That was when play was suspended because of darkness.
McIlroy, a golfer who has won this individual tournament three times and finished in second place at the Dubai Invitational behind Tommy Fleetwood, birdied five of his first 11 holes. He got on the leaderboard at -4 before things hit a snag and he stumbled to the finish.
The Northern Irishman missed a par putt from within four feet on the sixth hole. Hole number seven saw him mishit a chip from off the green and he couldn't putt from 30 feet to get back to par.
Mcllroy missed the eighth green from the fairway, didn't chip well once again and then couldn't putt from 10 feet to make par. His final hole of the day, the ninth, saw the golfer get into a bunker before his par putt just edged into the cup, ending his day on a low note.
Harman’s round was derailed by a two over at the ninth hole that transpired after he sent his second shot out of the trees and into the water. He was four under before that.
This is his first European tour event that is not co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour. Having won the Open Championship, the golfer has more freedom to play in these sort of events overseas.
How does the Dubai Desert Classic leaderboard look?
Here's how the first round, which was suspended, looks like for the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Most players finished round one, though a few only got through a certain number of holes.
Where will everyone land at the end? Brian Harman and Rory McIlroy are both T27 and they were at the top early on, so things could change in a heartbeat.
