Rory McIlroy overcame windy conditions and a quadruple-bogey to keep hold of his two-shot lead heading into the weekend at the Dubai Invitational.
The world No 2 had dominated the first day in the desert, carding a bogey-free 62 to begin the defence of his Race to Dubai title.
He would not have it all his own way in round two at Dubai Creek Resort, however, going from four ahead to a four-way tie at the top after finding the water twice at the 8th.
But he is not a four-time Major champion for nothing and three birdies on the back nine saw him sign for a 70 and lead the way from German Yannik Paul and Dane Jeff Winther at 10 under.
English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Jordan Smith, South African pair Thriston Lawrence and Zander Lombard and Dane Thorbjørn Olesen were at seven under, a shot clear of another Dane in Rasmus Højgaard.
Lawrence’s round of 70 included three birdies and two bogeys, while Lombard had six birdies and three birdies in shooting 68.
McIlroy has a fine record in the UAE, winning three Dubai Desert Classics – including the first of his 16 DP World Tour titles in 2009 – and two DP World Tour Championships.
He will defend the Hero Dubai Desert Classic title that brought him his first Rolex Series win next week and feels his game is in a good place.
“I think if I look at the other 17 holes that I played, I played very, very well again,” he said. “Hit some good iron shots.
“Played not too dissimilarly to the way I played yesterday. I maybe holed a couple more putts yesterday but the conditions were getting a little trickier. The wind was up, greens were firm and I had a couple of miscues on the 8th hole.
“The 10th was big. I had a chance to bounce back on nine that I missed but 10 was big. The two shots into 13 were big too.
“And to make two relatively easy birdies and then I give myself chances most of the back nine, which was nice, and I was able to convert a couple before that tough finishing stretch there on 17 and 18.
“I felt like I did well just to get my head back into it and play some solid golf on the way in and everyone seemed to find it a little more difficult today than yesterday. So it’s nice to go into the weekend still with the lead.”
McIlroy and Paul picked up where they had left off on Thursday, with Paul holing a 20-footer on the 2nd and getting up and down on the par-five 4th, while McIlroy birdied the driveable 3rd despite finding sand off the tee.
Paul then bogeyed the 5th, 8th and 9th to tumble down the leaderboard and after a two-putt gain on the 4th, McIlroy led by four at 11 under.
That soon changed, however, as he found water off the tee twice at the par-three 8th and the quadruple bogey seven dropped him into a four-way tie at the top.
Winther was part of that group as he hit a smart approach into the 3rd, got up and down on the fourth, made a two-putt gain on the par-five 10th and holed a 15-foot putt on the 11th.
Another two-putt birdie on the par-five 13th moved him to eight under but he was joined there by McIlroy, who got up and down at the 10th.
A 17-footer brought another Winther gain on the 15th but McIlroy two-putted the 15th and led alone when Winther made his only bogey of the week so far after a poor tee-shot on the last to sign for a 66.
A 30-footer on the 16th then moved McIlroy back into red numbers for the day and he had regained the two-shot lead with which he teed off.
And he would not be the only one to stage an impressive comeback, as Paul made the most of the 10th after laying up and put his tee-shot to 11 feet on the par-three 16th in a 70.
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Alex Burstow/Getty Images
