Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer sharing halfway lead at Dubai Desert Classic: Live Leaderboard Part-1
Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy pulled in a massive seven-under, 65 on the second day of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic to surge past the rest of the field and is now leading the event through the halfway mark.
Having already posted an impressive six-under, 66 on the opening day, McIlroy needed a slightly better effort to take over the jaw-dropping performance of the Rafael Cabrera-Bello, who carded a low of nine-under, 63 on the first day.
Bello is currently tied for the second spot, and is still working towards the remaining holes of his round.
The 22-year-old US Open winner pulled in seven birdies in the 18-hole stretch and did not drop a single shot throughout the day.
Winner of the 2009 episode of the event, McIlroy is making his seventh appearance here in Dubai and has already showed his penchant for the course and the venue.
This time around, however, he is playing amid the toughest contenders in the sport, excluding the world number one Luke Donald, who did not participate in the event.
McIlroy said before the start of the event, “I remember what I shot (in 2006) - I shot two 72's and missed the cut by one. I've spent a good bit of time here in the past, and after playing Abu Dhabi, spent the week here practising, working on my game and looking forward to this week”.
McIlroy has fond memories of playing alongside Tiger Woods in the 2006 event, when he made his first appearance in Dubai as a professional player.
He added, “I remember I played on Thursday morning, and then on Thursday afternoon Tiger was playing. I came out in the afternoon and took one of the photographer's cameras off of him and was able to follow inside the ropes, which was pretty cool”.
German Martin Kaymer has finally worked his way out of his rusty form and pulled in a massive five-under, 67 today, to settle for the second spot.
He has an aggregate score of 11-under, 133 and is trailing McIlory by two strokes.
Kaymer had a disastrous start of the season when he missed the halfway cut at Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, which has been known to be his favourite hunting ground.
To be continued...
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