Rory McIlroy and Marco Penge played together again on day one of the DP World Tour Championship.

The top two players in the Race to Dubai standings were in the same group in the first two rounds of the Abu Dhabi Championship last week.

McIlroy (T3) beat Penge (T9) by four strokes in Abu Dhabi, so he already had one hand on the Race to Dubai trophy before traveling to Dubai.

And the Northern Irishman now looks certain to win his seventh DP World Tour Order of Merit after a better first round than Penge.

Sky Sports pundit Wayne Riley even noticed Penge lose his patience on Thursday as McIlroy built a likely insurmountable advantage.

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Wayne Riley saw Marco Penge lose patience at DP World Tour Championship

McIlroy continued his superb record at the Jumeirah Golf Estates by shooting a six-under-par 66 in the first round of the DP World Tour Championship.

Unfortunately, Penge, who had been dealing with illness earlier in the week, did not have a similarly fast start on Thursday.

The Englishman was three over par and nine shots behind McIlroy on the 18th hole, when he made a risky decision that caught Wayne Riley’s attention.

“This is a risky play, 288 [yards], uphill, into [wind],” he said before Penge attempted to hit a driver off the deck with his second shot on the long par-5.

With water hazards close to the 18th green, Penge could easily have lost his ball and been forced to take a drop shot.

“No, I don’t think he can [reach the green],” Riley added. “It’s playing 300. We know he’s long, but he’ll need a blue flame coming out of his rear to reach.

“I don’t care what he’s hitting. This is risky. It’s desperation right now. He’s just having a crack, and rightly so. He’s way back. He needs to slice it. It’s very difficult to draw a driver off the deck.”

While Riley did not blame Penge for taking it on, he admitted that it was an act of “desperation” because he had struggled all day.

“This is off the world,” he reacted to Penge’s approach shot. “It hasn’t drawn. He’s just having a crack and rightly so. He’s brave, but it’s desperation right now. He’s trying to make things happen.”

Penge’s ball went a long way right and hit a hospitality stand, but it fell kindly into the rough. Penge then managed to get up-and-down, and improve his score to two over.

Marco Penge needs a miracle to win the 2025 Race to Dubai

Marco Penge has a nearly 1,000 point deficit to overcome to take the Race to Dubai away from Rory McIlroy.

For Penge to lift the Harry Vardon trophy, he needs to either win the tournament or finish second in Dubai and for McIlroy to be worse than fourth.

However, the 27-year-old is tied for 46th place on the leaderboard after his opening round 74 at the Jumeirah Golf Estates.

With McIlroy eight strokes better off and in third place, it would take the three best rounds of Penge’s life and a collapse from the Northern Irishman.