Playing partner McIlroy was one of the beneficiaries of Sullivan’s mistake, becoming part of a five-man group at 10-under par on top of the leaderboard.

McIlroy was involved in a thrilling battle with Sullivan in November’s DP World Tour Championship, and has developed a good friendship with the ever-smiling and talkative Nuneaton golfer.

And the world No3 said he’d rather have Sullivan make his up-and-down from the bunker for a double bogey than miss the short, four-feet putt that resulted in a triple bogey.

“Yeah, it wasn’t great to see it. It was a bit of a weird one. No one really saw where the ball went and we couldn’t find it in the bush. We weren’t certain it went in the water, so he went back to the tee,” said McIlroy.

“I was hoping he would have made that putt just to give him a little bit of momentum going into tomorrow [Sunday].

“He’s great. I get on really, really well with Andy. He’s great fun and we have a great laugh out there. Looking forward to hopefully not just nine holes with him tomorrow; maybe another 18 after that.”

McIlroy was also effusive in his praise for Bryson DeChambeau, the 22-year-old American who was the third player in the lead group.

“It’s the first time I played with him, first time I met him. Great guy, first and foremost. Very polite, very courteous, and obviously the method that he has is very much his own,” McIlroy added.

“It’s funny, he was walking just ahead of us there down the first fairway with the cap on and the stuff, and the pants, and it sort of reminded me of what it would be like to play with [Ben] Hogan.”