Rory McIlroy falls as Europeans grab halfway lead at Abu Dhabi Golf Championship: Live Leaderboard Part-2
He kicked off the front with two bogeys to fall back and settled for a sloppy one-under, 71. He is currently tied for the fourth spot along with Scot Paul Lawrie and Englishman Robert Rock.
For Rory McIlroy, however, it has turned out to be a sad day so far, and the proceedings remind an apparent recurrence of the final round in the Masters last year.
After grabbing lead the previous day, McIlroy who is on his fourth visit of the Abu Dhabi course, was hoping to extend his lead the rough the halfway mark, until the two disastrous double-bogeys destroyed any hopes of surging to the top again.
Currently tied for the seventh place, the 22-year-old started the day on the front nine, falling on a bogey on the very first hole.
He dropped the par-four, 3rd twice before carding three welcomed birdies but His ordeal was far from over. He fell for another double-bogey on the par-fourth, 9th before making the turn and is now poised at seventh place with one-over.
World number two Lee Westwood is now in serious threats of missing the halfway cut after he refused to give in to a burgeoning neck pain. He managed even-par rounds on both days and is still hoping to carry on with his fight to the top.
Westwood said: "I've had it for about a month, but this is the first time I've played three days in a row since. The pain goes down into my elbow and it feels like somebody is driving a needle in there. If I'd hit it in the long rough I might have had to
think about it, but hopefully I'll be ok tomorrow”.
Meanwhile Tiger Woods has done well so far to maintain his composure as the big guns have been put to silence in the morning.
He carded two birdies on the front and dropped one shot and is poised at one-under for the moment. He has just made the turn and is playing for the remaining holes on the back nine.
World number Luke Donald has played more or less the same way as Woods, carding two birdies and dropping one shot in the day.
Defending champion Martin Kaymer, touted as the undisputed king of Abu Dhabi, is likely to miss the halfway cut after succumbing to sloppy rounds of 77 and 73 and is now six-over on the aggregate.
This is kaymer’s worst start in the event in the last four years. He has won the title in two of the last three years and three times in the last four.
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