RORY McILROY ticked off a “bucket list” experience by joining Borussia Dortmund’s famous Yellow Wall – before hitting a bit of a brick wall at the Desert Classic.

McIlroy, who opened his bid for a hat-trick of titles by grinding out a two under par 70 said he had always wanted to taste the atmosphere of a Dortmund home game.

So he decided to stop off on his way to Dubai when he saw German team Dortmund were playing Bayer Leverkusen last week.

He said: “It was great fun, something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve heard so much about the yellow wall and it was cool to experience it.

“The atmosphere was everything I expected – 25,000 fans and me and a couple of mates were right in the middle of it.

“It was insane, apart from Leverkusen going 2-0 up after five minutes, and holding on for a 3-2 win. But it was amazing to be there.

“Only three people recognised me – and they were from my mum’s home town, Lurgan! I said what the hell are you doing here, and they said they could ask me the same thing.”

McIlroy struggled early as he slipped to one over par through eight holes in his first competitive round in nine weeks.

But the world No 3, who started on the tenth hole at the Emirates, grabbed three birdies to breathe new life into his hopes of becoming the first European golfer in 25 years to win the same event three times in a row.

He is five shots behind an unlikely trio of pace-setters Ricardo Gouveia, David Micheluzzi, and amateur David Ford.

McIlroy added: “It was a bit scrappy to say the least but I’m happy with how I managed my game and I got it round in a couple under.

“I did a good job of scrambling. I made a lot of key up-and-downs. Bonus of a chip-in on 7. But I don’t want to have to rely on my short game the rest of the week like I did today.”

His birdie run included a chip-in on the par three seventh. It clearly lifted McIlroy’s mood, as he was surprisingly generous towards arch-enemy Greg Norman when he was asked about his departure as LIV’s chief executive.

McIlroy has previously said Norman had to be binned if there was to be any hope of LIV and the golfing establishment coming together.

But he commented: “I saw Scott O’Neill was confirmed as the new chief executive, and he’s someone I kind of know. He was at our showdown match in Las Vegas, when me and Scottie Scheffler took on Koepka and DeChambeau, and so was Greg.

“Look, Scott has got an amazing track record in terms of what he’s done in sport, in terms of being chief executive of both the NBA and the NHL.

“Yeah, he’s got the right credentials to take over another sports league. So yeah, I think for LIV it’s probably a good move now that they’re established.

“Greg obviously took a lot of flak in the first couple of years of LIV. He’s probably one of the only people in golf that could have taken on that role.

“So he got it off the ground and you’ve got to commend him for that. Now it’s time for someone with a bit more experience in this to take over.

“I honestly don’t know what the future holds for them, but the moves that they’re making, especially from an executive standpoint, it doesn’t look like they’re going to go away any time soon.”