McIlroy frustrated with missed putts but not giving up hope

Twelve months ago Rory McIlroy completed the best comeback win of his career to win the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and he will need to produce his best again if he is to win his fifth crown at Emirates Golf Club.

McIlroy came from ten shots back after 36 holes to win last year and heading into this weekend he trails Ewen Ferguson by nine shots after a frustrating round of 71. The 35-year-old held just 39-feet of putts on day two and knows he will need to spark into life on the greens if he is to overcome this deficit.

“I’d say the winning score isn’t going to be much above what the leader is right now, especially the way the course is going to play over the weekend, and the especially this golf course has played over the weekend the last couple years.

“The greens will continue to get a little bit firmer, and will put such a premium on putting it in the fairway and hitting a lot of greens. If I can focus on that over the weekend, get a couple of putts to drop, I think I’ve still got a decent chance.”

McIlroy failed to catch fire and an opening bogey set the tone for his day. He picked up birdies on the 2nd and 10th but a bogey on the par-3 15th and a par on the drivable par-4 17th might have ended his chances despite a closing birdie.

The Holywood man will be among the earlier starters on Saturday as he looks to plot a charge.

“A little frustrated. But I thought the conditions were a little tricky. This afternoon the wind was up a little bit more. The greens started to get a little bit firmer.

“Yeah, you know, it was hard to hit it close and make a ton of birdies. I know a couple of people did, but overall I felt like the scoring this afternoon, not quite as good as the scoring this morning.

“You know, get out there early tomorrow and try to post a score and get myself up the leaderboard and give myself a chance for Sunday.”

On average, McIlroy held two feet of putts per green and he admitted to struggling to read the tricky putting surfaces as several chances went begging on a frustrating afternoon.

“Misreads. They are really tricky. There’s a lot of grain, a lot of grain doing different ways, double breakers. Felt like I was hitting pretty good putts. Burned a lot of edges. So just have to keep trying to make committed strokes and make good reads, and hopefully sooner or later, they are going to drop.”