DP World Tour : Dubai Invitational Leaderboard Tee Times
Rory McIlroy overcame windy conditions and a quadruple-bogey to keep hold of his two-shot lead heading into the weekend at the Dubai Invitational.
The World Number Two had dominated the first day in the desert, carding a bogey-free 62 to begin the defense of his Race to Dubai title.
He would not have it all his own way in round two at Dubai Creek Resort, however, going from four ahead to a four-way tie at the top after finding the water twice at the eighth for a quadruple bogey 7.
But he is not a four-time Major Champion for nothing and three birdies on the back nine saw him sign for a 70 -10 total to lead the way from German Yannik Paul (70) and Dane Jeff Winther (66) at -8
McIlroy has a fine record in the United Arab Emirates, winning three Dubai Desert Classics - including the first of his 16 DP World Tour titles in 2009 - and two DP World Tour Championships.
He will defend the Hero Dubai Desert Classic title that brought him his first Rolex Series win next week and feels his game is in a good place.
"I think if I look at the other 17 holes that I played, I played very, very well again," he said. "Hit some good iron shots.
"Played not too dissimilarly to the way I played yesterday. I maybe holed a couple more putts yesterday but the conditions were getting a little trickier. The wind was up, greens were firm and I had 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 and 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."
English duo Tommy Fleetwood 69 and Jordan Smith 67, South African pair Thriston Lawrence 70 and Zander Lombard 68 and Dane Thorbjørn Olesen 69 were at -7 a shot clear of another Dane in Rasmus Højgaard 68.
In the team event, host Abdulla Al Naboodah led the way by two shots after contributing three birdies and a par in a 67 alongside Pablo Larrazábal 72 and will play with McIlroy in Saturday's final team round.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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