Dubai, Jan 26 (PTI) Shubhankar Sharma was unable to get a hit on the opening day of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic as heavy overnight rain forced a delay at the Majlis Course at the Emirates Golf Club.

Sharma will now come out to play his first round early on Friday and will have a long day as he will then be required to start the second round, too, late in the afternoon.

Sharma plays his first and second rounds with Jordan Smith and Thorbjorn Olesen.

Thomas Pieters, who missed the cut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championships where he was defending the title, looked to make amends as he was 5-under through 15 holes when darkness stopped play.

Two-time champion here, Rory McIlroy was one-under through 15 holes and sitting on a four-foot putt for birdie on the seventh, his 16th hole of the day.

With less than five hours available on Thursday on account of a six-hour five-minute delay, there was a scramble to finish the round by some of the earliest groups to tee off.

Only two groups from either side were able to finish, with three players, Matthew Jordan, Daniel Gavins and Oliver Wilson — all from England — carding 4-under 68 each.

Thomas Bjorn, the former Ryder Cup captain, finished 2-under in fading light, as did fellow Dane, Oliver Hunderball, who came in for Richie Ramsay, a late withdrawal.

McIlroy opened his round with a birdie on the 10th, missed the green on the 12th and ended with a bogey and then again missed the green on Par-3 15th and failed to hole a 9-foot putt for a second bogey.

He did well to birdie the 18th after getting on to greenside bunker with his second shot and then putted from nine feet to get to even par. A good chip-putt from 35-odd yards saw him get to red numbers.

He was 1-under through 15 holes and had a short birdie putt on his 16th hole, when play was stopped due to darkness. He will come back early to complete the round.

The morning start was delayed by over six hours on account of heavy overnight rain because of which the conditions at the Emirates Golf Club were rather difficult, with standing water at various places, including the first fairway.

There was also some damage to the bunkers. There was also a thunderstorm in the early hours of Thursday and then there were some light showers while play was on.

Play finally got underway at 1.15pm after the ground staff put in an amazing amount of effort to make the course playable.

Source: PTI News