Rory McIlroy admitted he “made a mess” of the par-3 17th which ultimately cost him a triple bogey and perhaps his chances of winning a first Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as he fell nine shots off the halfway pace.
McIlroy previously came back from ten shots behind to win in Dubai but a nine shot gap with thirteen players ahead of him on a very vulnerable Yas Links golf course and with a swing that is in transition leaves him needing something very special over the weekend.
The world number three was seven-under for the day after sixteen holes but disaster struck on 17 after his tee shot found a green side bunker and he subsequently thinned his first attempt into more sand and took four more blows to get down. He did rally with a closing birdie for a round of 67 and a ten-under total.
“Yeah, I played quite nice up to that point, and I feel like I hit a nice shot into 17,” said McIlroy who is looking up at Paul Waring after the Englishman shot a course record 61 to lead by five shots from American Johannes Veerman, England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Danish pair Niklas Norgaard and Thorbjorn Olesen on eleven-under.
“Nice flighted 5-iron, hit the downslope, trundled into the bunker, and then it wasn’t a great leave in the first place. The club bounced on me. There the wasn’t a lot of sand, and wherever the ball was in the bunker there, and I just sort of made a mess of it from there.
“But bounced back well with two good shots into the last and made a birdie there.
“So just have to go out tomorrow and try to get off to a fast start and get myself back into it.”
The Holywood man would like to see the course firm up over the weekend believing he can go seriously low and capitalise on and slip ups from the leading players.
“I’d like to see the course get a bit firmer,” he said. “There were a couple of greens today that got a bit shinier and a little trickier.
“Yeah, I need the golf course to firm up a little bit and toughen up a little bit to have a chance. There are so many gettable holes out there, the par 5s and some of the shorter par 4s.
“It will be up to me. I shot 63 on that Saturday in Dubai this year, and I’m going to need something similar, if not lower, seeing what the scores are like to give myself a chance going into Sunday.
“But I know it’s out there. I was 7-under through 13 holes today. So it is possible.”
Shane Lowry enjoyed a steady second round with an eagle and six birdies taking him up to 17th place on nine-under after a 66.
Meanwhile, it’s adding up on an abacus season for Tom McKibbin who will need to get a wriggle on over the final two rounds to keep his PGA Tour card hopes alive.
The 21-year-old recovered from a double bogey seven on the par-5 2nd with five birdies to post a second round of 69 but he is way back in 35th place on six-under-par and projected to fall four places to 21st in the Race to Dubai rankings having began the week in 17th and one place outside the top-10 for PGA Tour cards.
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