Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship: Kaymer takes lead after second round
The second round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Champion wrapped up on Friday with Martin Kaymer in the lead, while Charl Schwartzel and Graeme McDowell followed.
Friday morning started with the South African Schwartzel in the lead. Unfortunately, he failed to keep the winner charm intact and let the German take the charge.
Kaymer teed off in the morning and chose the front nine as his battleground. His decision was wise, as the front nine is relatively difficult to handle in late conditions because of its soft greens. Early morning, the greens are hard, which helps the ball in rolling and Kaymer knew that. The four-time winner birdied the opening hole and walked towards the second. He smashed the tee shot right into the middle of the fairway and without much effort, ironed his way to the green which was bunkered from both sides. Although he managed to hit green in regulation, yet missed the birdie putt and settled at par.
The 26-year-old walked towards the third tee, low in confidence, owing to the bogey he posted in the first round on the same hole. The veteran rolled the sand wedge from the centre of the sand bunker, which was strategically located on the landing area for the tee shot and reached the green in two. Rest was a solid putter play, which helped Kaymer in attaining the second point of the day.
That was only the start, as the veteran fired three back-to-back birdies on the fifth, sixth, and seventh holes and capped the front nine with a score of five-under-par.
On his way to the back nine, strong winds and rain posed a great threat for the winner of Race to Dubai. Despite that, he picked up two more points without a loss and wrapped the day with a sparkling 7-under-par 65.
The world number three seemed happy with his game and knows that if he wins the title, he will automatically replace world number two Tiger Woods in the official rankings.
While answering a question asked by the press regarding the rankings, Kaymer said, “Every tournament I play this year, at least in the beginning, it will be like this. If you finish here or there, you get to No 2. And of course if you get to No 2 you want to get No 1. But it is not my main goal this year.”
Kaymer might not be concerned about the rankings, but he certainly has an idea that with Padraig Harrington out and Lee Westwood struggling on the course, he has a strong stake on the $2.7 million purse.
Despite that, Kaymer expressed grief for the Irish as he took a very strong start in the tournament and had a chance on victory.
Kaymer said, “I heard about it when my brother called me. He said, ‘You will probably play without Padraig. He touched his ball on the seventh. He is in the TV truck now trying to get it sorted.’ It is a shame because he played great golf and you could see that he had a chance to win on Sunday.”
Three strokes below the leader was the veteran who led the field in the opening round. Schwartzel smashed nine birdies in the first round, but this time rain swept him off his feet. The South African dropped five shots, which hurt his scorecard. Though he picked up six birdies randomly, they had meagre impact on the disoriented score and he had to settle for one-under-par.
On the third spot of the leaderboard stood the conqueror of Pebbles beach. Like Schwartzel, McDowell too had little say against the wind and the rain. The Northern Irishman picked five birdies against three bogeys and settled at two-under-par.
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