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The 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic has a cutline after 36 holes. The DP World Tour event kicked off with its inaugural round on Thursday, January 16. After two rounds, it will have a cutline. Only the players finishing above the cutline will be eligible to compete over the weekend in the final two rounds of the event.
DP World Tour events feature a full-size field and have a cutline after two rounds. However, on the PGA Tour, some of its signature events do not have a cutline. Additionally, LIV Golf tournaments also do not have any cutline.
Meanwhile, at the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Ricardo Gouveia, David Micheluzzi, and amateur golfer David Ford were in the lead after carding a round of 65 on Thursday. They even started their second round on January 16. However, Ford struggled with his game and played a round of 75, dropping 16 spots on the leaderboard at the time of writing. Meanwhile, Gouveia and Micheluzzi are yet to complete their second round.
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The projected cutline for the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic is even par at the time of writing. The event features some big names, including Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, and Tommy Fleetwood. It will conclude with its final round on Sunday, January 19.
Rory McIlroy reflects on his performance at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic 2025
Rory McIlroy started his 2025 campaign on the DP World Tour at this week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic. However, he had a rough start to his season, as he carded a round of 2-under 70 in the first round of the event.
During the press conference of the tournament on January 16, the Northern Irish golfer opened up about his performance, saying, via ASAP Sports:
"Pretty scrappy. Actually I felt I played probably better the first eight holes where I was 1-over compared to the last ten where I was 3-under. Yeah, it was a bit scrappy. First competitive round of the year. First competitive round in a while. A little uncomfortable over some shots. Definitely not as comfortable as I was in practise and coming in here.
"But it's nice to get a card in your hand. It sort of exposes the things that you need to work on. I got it around and got it in a couple under, which is nice, and didn't put myself out of the tournament, which is the main thing," he added.
Rory McIlroy teed off on the first hole of the DP World Tour event, making a par on the first hole before carding a birdie on the second hole. He made four birdies and two bogeys in the opening round of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, settling for a 2-under 70.
