Nov 09,2024
Rory McIlroy sits nine shots off the pace at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after a costly triple bogey on the 17th ruined an otherwise flawless round for the four-time major winner.
McIlroy still managed to post a five-under second rounc, however, his second consecutive 67 was marred by a six on the short 17th.
The County Down golfer made eight birdies in total and bounced back from the disappointment on 17 by getting a shot back to close out the round on the final hole.
"I played quite nice up to that point and I feel like I hit a nice shot into 17, just trundled into the bunker," said McIlroy.
"There wasn’t a lot of sand where the ball was and I just sort of made a mess of it from there, but bounced back well to birdie the last."
McIlroy came from 10 shots behind at halfway to win in Dubai in January, but admitted: "I need the golf course to toughen up a little bit to have a chance. There’s so many gettable holes out there.
"I shot 63 on that Saturday in Dubai and I’m going to need something similar, if not lower, to give myself a chance going into Sunday."
FULL LEADERBOARD
Shane Lowry, meanwhile, played his way back into the mix with an impressive six-under 66 to move to within a shot of McIlroy.
And it could have been even better for Lowry, who made bogeys on the first and third holes, which were cancelled out by an impressive eagle on the sixth hole as the Offaly man picked up four shots in three holes. Tom McKibbin shot 69 to get to seven under and a share of 35th place heading into the weekend.
Both McIlroy and Lowry will be buoyed by the fact that they are only four and five shots respectively off second place, with England's Paul Waring out on his own after carding a course record of 61 in the second round to open up a commanding halfway lead.
Waring holed his second shot at the sixth from 119 yards for an eagle and also recorded nine birdies to reach 19 under par in pursuit of his second DP World Tour title at Yas Links.
That gave the 39-year-old a five-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen, Johannes Veerman and Niklas Norgaard.
Waring rounded off his round in spectacular fashion on the par-five 18th, hitting his third shot from 265 yards to within three feet of the pin after having to pitch back on to the fairway following a wayward drive.
"That was the best shot I’ve ever hit in my life to be honest," Waring said.
"The tee shot on 18 was a little bit peculiar for me because I had been hitting it great all day, so even over that three wood I felt like could I hit a solid shot into the part of the green and just hit a little draw.
"In total honesty I’m just trying to keep going, keep making birdies. My caddie made the remark a few days ago, we played a little bit golf at Trump over in Dubai and we played the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates as well and for those two rounds, I actually had 50 per cent birdies.
"We were having a bit of a laugh yesterday [Thursday] because I had nine birdies so that was 50 per cent, so he said today, right, every round, you’ve got to better 50 per cent birdies.
"Obviously feel great, swinging it great. Putter is behaving. That’s I’d say a weak spot for me now and again but I’ve done a lot of work on it, and since moving over to Dubai I’m very used to these style of greens as well.
"I’ve got a nice lead at the moment but even before I tee off tomorrow, someone might have caught me. So if I’m going to be involved on Sunday afternoon I’ve still got to keep going the way I am."
Additional reporting by PA
