The Northern Irishman’s two-shot advantage could have been far greater had it not been for the seven he made at the par-three eighth hole, where the world No 2 twice found the water.
McIlroy responded resolutely to the only dropped shots of his opening two rounds at the Dubai Creek Resort, making three birdies on the back nine to finish one-under for the round and move 10-under for the tournament.
Denmark’s Jeff Winther shot a five-under par 66 to move into a share of second alongside Germany’s Yannik Paul, while McIlroy’s Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood is among a group of five players at seven-under. Having produced a magnificent 62 on Thursday, McIlroy picked up where he left off as birdies at the third and fourth holes took him to -11.
However, disaster struck at the 214-yard eighth as McIlroy came up short and found the water, before repeating the error from the drop zone, which was about 75 yards closer to the green. After finding the green at the third attempt, McIlroy would two-putt for a seven that would temporarily take him out of the lead. A par to close out the front nine followed before McIlroy got back on track by using his power to make birdies at the par-five 10th and 13th holes.
There was to be no repeat of his par-three woes at the 16th, with McIlroy rolling in a 30-foot putt to make a final birdie, taking him back under par for the round.
“If I look at the other 17 holes that I played, I played very, very well again, hit some good iron shots and played not too dissimilarly to the way I played yesterday,” McIlroy said. “I maybe holed a couple more putts yesterday, but the conditions were getting a little trickier, the wind was up, the greens were firm. later “And a couple of miscues on the eighth hole. I felt like I did well just to get my head back into it and play some solid golf on the way in.
“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.”
The tournament features a 72-hole stroke play tournament played alongside a three-day pro-am team event, with no cut and only the professionals playing on Sunday. Having opened with a 66, Fleetwood, who started his round from the 10th, also had to be patient after two bogeys meant he had lost ground at the turn.A problem was encountered – please
The Englishman found a strong finish with three birdies in his final six holes to climb the leaderboard and establish himself as McIlroy’s most notable challenger for the weekend.
England’s Jordan Smith is also among the group on -7, along with Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen and South African duo Thriston Lawrence and Zander Lombar
