Rory McIlroy won the opening skirmish of his much-­anticipated battle with Jordan Spieth, edging the world No.1 by two shots on his first competitive outing of the year at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Thursday.

The world No.3 from Northern Ireland posted a first-round six-under-par 66 to stand two shots behind American amateur Bryson Dechambeau (64), with Henrik Stenson of Sweden in second after a 65.

McIlroy made two bogeys but compensated with eight birdies. Spieth, who uncharacteristically missed a couple of short putts, also had two bogeys in his round of 68.

World No.6 Rickie Fowler, the third player in the morning feature group, opened with a two-under-par 70.

McIlroy is playing his first tournament of 2016 after a gap of almost two months since winning the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in ­November, but he showed no signs of rustiness as he opened with two straight birdies on the 10th and 11th holes after starting on the back nine of the golf course. However, the putter took some time to warm up as he dropped two shots on his first nine, both because of three-putts.

Spieth, who won the Tournament of Champions on the PGA Tour a couple of weeks ago, needed six holes to make his first birdie, but then added six more.

The two bogeys came on the second and fifth holes, but the defending Masters and US Open champion seemed most frustrated by a missed birdie putt from 4 feet (1.2 meters) on the eighth hole.

Stenson, who had a surgery done on his right knee in ­December, had said his first challenge would be to walk the 18 holes this week.

But with his iron play on point, the 39-year-old Swede had absolutely no trouble throughout the day.