Nicolai Højgaard is eyeing a second DP World Tour Championship title after opening up a three-shot lead at the halfway stage at Jumeirah Golf Estates, but Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy are in hot pursuit.
The Dane is making his third appearance at the season-ending event on the Earth Course, where he came fourth on his debut in 2021 before lifting the trophy two years later.
Højgaard began the day three shots behind leader Michael Kim, but an eagle and five birdies saw him catapult to the top of the leaderboard thanks to a flawless 65 – the lowest round of the week so far – to reach 12 under par.
“It’s great to be back,” said the 2023 tournament winner. “It’s one of my favourite tournaments and favourite courses to play. It’s good to be back this year in a little bit of form. Just happy to be here.
“Yesterday was a really good round. I felt like I actually might have played a little bit better today. But yeah, just staying patient. I know there’s plenty of chances out there. It’s easy to make a silly bogey out of being a little bit too aggressive. So trying to navigate my way out there a little bit. Staying patient has probably been the highlight so far.
“I think it suits my eye. I really like it off the tee. I feel like it’s a position golf course as well. It’s a mix of driver down to 4-iron. And it plays into my strength, which is mid-irons. So it’s just a really good fit for me, and yeah, I played some good golf again. So hopefully we keep it up.”
There is a stellar chasing pack in hot pursuit, with his 2023 European Ryder Cup team-mates Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy sat alongside Daniel Hillier and fellow Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen at nine under.
“I had to battle a little more today than I did yesterday,” McIlroy conceded after a scrappy tee-to-green game forced him to display his battling prowess. “The conditions were slightly tougher, as well. So you know, if you looked at the scoring yesterday compared to today, it is a little bit tougher.
“I missed a couple more fairways today. And when I did miss the fairways, I got some really bad lies, like the worst lies I’ve seen this week. I didn’t even get it back on to the fairway at the last and had to scramble there.
“But I felt like I showed my scoring skills today, and you know, battled well and stayed patient, and got the ball up-and-down when I needed to. And overall, you know, to shoot 69, I’m pretty pleased considering some of the spots that I found myself.”
“In some ways I’ve played amazing golf this week and there’s other elements of my game where I do feel super rusty,” Rose admitted. “I think probably driven the ball fantastically so far. Iron play has been sharp. Putter probably not so much.
“Today was a weird day on the greens, again struggling to read them but then holed two really, really long ones, a 65-footer and maybe a 40-footer. So I guess it comes out in the wash a bit.
“Maybe that’s the bit, my irons are not quite — even though I’m scoring great and playing well, but hopefully over the weekend can get my irons on and around the greens a bit more.”
Neergaard-Petersen, who almost aced the 13th before eagling the next, went four under through three holes with a birdie at the 15th to jump ahead on his own in second at ten under, before bogeying the last to slip back into the pack at nine under par, matching playing partner Rose’s round of 67.
Lowry also signed for a 67, with defending champion McIlroy – chasing down his seventh Race to Dubai title – coming home with a four-under 68, while New Zealand’s Hillier signed for a 69.
English pair Laurie Canter and Tommy Fleetwood, Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and Swede Alex Noren are one shot further back at eight under.
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