(updates at end of round)
DUBAI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Open champion Rory
McIlroy and Danish veteran Thomas Bjorn sunk late birdies to set
the pace at the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday, with the pair
13-under after the second round.
Behind them lurked Martin Kaymer - who claimed his first
ever hole in one - and a resurgent Lee Westwood as golf's top
guns excelled on another windless day on Dubai's Majlis course.
McIlroy, Westwood and Kaymer are ranked two, three and four
in the world, with only number one Luke Donald absent from the
Dubai leaderboard.
"This was very stress-free golf - fairways most of the time,
a lot of greens and giving myself a lot of looks, so I'm really
pleased with how I played today," McIlroy, 22, told reporters.
Yet the Northern Irishman may rue several missed long birdie
chances as his putting often failed to match his stellar
approach play.
"It could have been better, I missed a putt on the 18th for
an eagle, I missed a putt on the first for a birdie that was
pretty short," said McIlroy. "I hit a couple of really good
putts on the back nine which could have dropped."
Germany's Kaymer, on 11-under, said he would not be
satisfied with a leaderboard finish.
"The only thing that matters is the trophy - to leave the
golf course on Sunday afternoon knowing that you have beaten
everyone," the 2010 U.S. PGA champion told reporters.
"That's the pure satisfaction. A few players say they want
to win, but they don't want it as much as others. Rory... he
really wants to win and I'm not coming here to just play four
rounds of golf in the sunshine."
McIlroy started the day on six-under, this time playing the
back nine first. He teed off from the 10th hole early, a wisp of
cloud shrouding the desert sun as Dubai slept on Friday, the
Muslim holy day.
The back nine in Dubai is kinder than the front nine, with
three par-fives and a couple of short par-fours, so he was under
pressure to score low early.
CHIP SHOT
McIlroy sank a birdie on the opening hole, playing a chip
shot from the rough to be within a few feet of the pin, but at
the 11th he came up short with an 18-foot putt that would have
earned a second successive birdie.
McIlroy then missed a 25-foot eagle chance, but rolled in
his next shot to move on to eight-under for the tournament.
At two-under from seven second-round holes, McIlroy seemed
frustrated, but on the 17th green he sank a fairway chip to gain
a shot and this seemed to lift him as he holed a birdie on the
18th to be 10-under at the turn.
On the front nine, and now cheered on by girlfriend and
tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, he bagged three more birdies
to score 65 for the round.
Kaymer reached nine-under with three holes to play before
sinking his debut hole-in-one.
"I talked about it (a hole in one) a lot of times in the
past few weeks, because I played with Sergio (Garcia) in Abu
Dhabi," added Kaymer.
"I asked him how many do you have and he said 'eight or
nine'. Then Miguel (Jimenez) said he had stopped counting, so I
thought at some stage it had to happen."
Westwood looked off the pace on Thursday and when reaching
seven-under after 15 holes of the second round.
Then he played a nine-iron chipshot on the 16th that rolled
back to within a few inches of the pin for a birdie and went on
to also pick up shots on the final two holes to end on 10-under.
"I'd like for there to be a bit of breeze to keep it
interesting and make a par and a bogey worth something because
at the moment it's a bit of a race-and-chase out there -
sometimes if you don't make a birdie every three holes you feel
like you're losing ground on the field," the Englishman said.
Overnight leader Rafael Cabrera-Bello, who shot 63 in the
first round, ended Friday at 12-under as the Spaniard belied his
lowly world ranking of 119.
(Editing by Mark Meadows)
There are no comments yet