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 McIlroy finished second at the UAE capital's tournament in three
of the past four years, while playing partner Rickie Fowler was
making his Middle East debut.
American Fowler acted as a pace-setter and ended the day level with
McIlroy.
Despite a first-hole birdie McIlroy, 25, struggled for rhythm on
what is the season opener for many of the European Tour's prominent
players, finding sand as a bogey at his eighth hole left him on par
at the turn.
Fowler, a year older than the Northern Irishman, sunk birdies at his
sixth and eighth holes and picked up another shot at 10 to move
three stokes clear of McIlroy.
The world number one's body language, hands on hips and head down
after missing a birdie chance on the same hole, betrayed his
frustrations as he struggled to spark his game into life.
 "He (Fowler) was kicking me on today," McIlroy told reporters. "I
didn't want to let him get too far ahead. It looked like he was
going to shoot quite a low one, I was in neutral and needed to get
something going."
That moment came at his 12th after he drove his ball to the bunker
edge for a tricky second shot to the green, but a precision wedge
while straddling the sand gave him a 12-foot birdie putt he duly
converted.
"I was just trying to get it anywhere on the green - it was one of
those ones where it just came out right," said McIrloy.
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"It's good because it's not something you ever practice, it's all
feel and instinct. It was the first one I saw go in for a while so
it got me going and gave me a bit of confidence on the greens."
Emboldened, the four-time major winner picked up four more shots in
the next five holes, all by sinking putts from 10 feet or more as
midday approached and the temperature soared.
McIlroy's surge reeled in his playing partner Fowler, despite the
world number 10 also making four birdies on the back nine, and a
bogey at the last left them level for the round.
They trail Belgian Pieters (67), plus South Africa's Branden Grace
and France's Gregory Bourdy who both carded 66.
(Reporting by Matt Smith; editing by Martyn Herman)
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