McIlroy leads in Abu Dhabi with Hatton and Fleetwood lurking
Rory McIlroy. Picture: Getty Images
Rory McIlroy will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as he bids to win his opening event of the season for the first time in his career and break his duck in Rolex Series events.
Five strokes behind Tyrrell Hatton with four holes of his second round to complete on Saturday, he birdied the 17th to card a level par 72 and finish where he started on Friday on eight-under.
Hatton dropped a shot completing his second round, however, and saw his lead reduced to three strokes after a 68, then struggled at times and could only manage a 71 to McIlroy’s five-under-par round of 67 in the afternoon.
As a result, McIlroy leads by a shot from Hatton on 13-under par with Tommy Fleetwood lurking a further stroke back on 11-under after a second successive 67.
Seeking his first win at an event where he has been runner up four times, McIlroy was not at his very best but he made the best of some good fortune, carding five birdies and an eagle three at the 10th, where his third shot from around 70 yards from the rough was careering over the green until it hit the pin and dropped.
“Today was a little better,” McIlroy said. “It's so blustery and it's a different type of golf than we're used to playing here in Abu Dhabi where there's usually not much wind. You feel like you have a chance on every hole. There's like a little more scrambling involved and longer putts.
“I thought I did well today. Obviously had that big stroke of luck on ten, the ball hitting the pin and going in. Apart from that, I played well. I drove it much better on the back nine and I hit it much better on the back nine, so I was really encouraged with that.”
As for his record in Abu Dhabi —four runner-up finishes, three third-place finishes and a tie for fifth in 10 appearances— McIlroy has never led going into the final round and does not feel that he is due a win.
“I can't go into tomorrow thinking it's my turn. I want to make it my turn. I have to go out there and continue to hit the ball like I hit it on the back nine tonight. If I can do that and give myself plenty of chances, I'll have a real chance.”
He has never led going into the final round in Abu Dhabi and a conversion rate of nine wins from 15 54-hole leads is no guarantee.
As for Hatton, he was less than pleased with his 71 but he was still hopeful after falling one stroke behind McIlroy, who opened with a brilliant bogey-free 64 but has since made five bogeys and a double-bogey.
“It was a difficult day,” Hatton said. “The conditions were really tough for the whole day. Although I'm pretty disappointed to be honest. I feel like coming back in this morning, I didn't finish off my round too well and I didn't actually do anything too wrong.
“Then today, round three, I just felt like I had nothing really go my way. Hit a couple of decent shots and ran into a bunker with a terrible lie and had quite a few putts burning the edge or lipping out. Pretty disappointed.
“It's a pretty cool group to be a part of tomorrow. I'm sure the standard of golf will be pretty good and hoping that I can play well and give myself a chance to win.”
With 15 players at the top of the leaderboard covered by just six strokes, there is every chance that someone will post a low clubhouse score.
American David Lipsky and Scot Marc Warren are just three shots off the pace at 10-under par after a pair of 68s, one shot ahead of Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello, with Australia's Jason Scrivener at eight under.
The biggest danger man to McIlroy and Hatton is two-time Abu Dhabi Championship winner Fleetwood, who has made 15 birdies and just one bogey in his last 45 holes having been three over through nine in round one.
He came from a shot behind Hatton to win in 2017 with a closing 67, while in 2018 he was two strokes behind Ross Fisher but shot 65 to win by two.
“Just played solid,” Fleetwood said. “Was kind of in control for most of the round. Got on that nice little run on ten, 11, and 12. Holed a couple of long putts and you're off and running. When you're out there, you keep hitting golf shots and doing whatever you need to do and don't really think that much about it whether you're playing that well or probably feel you're playing worse than when you're playing well. Really good round of golf. Just happy to be in contention again.”
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Abu Dhabi Golf Club (Par 72)
203 R Mcilroy (NIr) 64 72 67,
204 T Hatton (Eng) 65 68 71,
205 T Fleetwood (Eng) 71 67 67,
206 M Warren (Sco) 72 66 68, D Lipsky (USA) 72 66 68,
207 R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 67 67 73,
208 J Scrivener (Aus) 67 70 71,
209 C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 71 71 67, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 72 68, G Coetzee (Rsa) 70 71 68, C Paisley (Eng) 72 68 69, W Ormsby (Aus) 69 70 70, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69 71, M Wallace (Eng) 68 70 71, F Zanotti (Par) 66 71 72,
210 V Perez (Fra) 68 73 69, R Bland (Eng) 72 69 69, A Arnaus (Esp) 74 67 69, T Pieters (Bel) 69 71 70, S Gallacher (Sco) 69 68 73, L Herbert (Aus) 68 68 74,
211 V Dubuisson (Fra) 73 69 69, A Levy (Fra) 72 70 69, N Bertasio (Ita) 71 67 73, K Broberg (Swe) 69 69 73, R Langasque (Fra) 67 70 74, J Janewattananond (Tha) 68 69 74, N Elvira (Esp) 68 68 75, D Drysdale (Sco) 73 70 68,
212 R MacIntyre (Sco) 72 69 71, S Jamieson (Sco) 71 70 71, L Bjerregaard (Den) 68 74 70, G Forrest (Sco) 72 70 70, B Wiesberger (Aut) 70 72 70, R Sterne (RSA) 71 72 69, J Smith (Eng) 72 71 69,
213 M Kawamura (Jpn) 71 70 72, A Rai (Eng) 69 72 72, K Kitayama (Usa) 68 74 71, J Luiten (Ned) 69 70 74, A Sullivan (Eng) 72 71 70,
214 M Southgate (Eng) 74 65 75, J Morrison (Eng) 69 73 72, M Schwab (Aut) 71 71 72, C Shinkwin (Eng) 70 69 75, A Rozner (Fra) 71 72 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 72 71 71, D Willett (Eng) 71 72 71, M Armitage (Eng) 73 70 71, R Hojgaard (Den) 71 72 71, R Rock (Eng) 72 71 71,
215 B Hebert (Fra) 68 73 74, J Rose (Eng) 70 72 73, O Wilson (Eng) 70 70 75, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 73 70 72,
216 A Bjork (Swe) 70 72 74, J Guerrier (Fra) 74 68 74, C Hill (Sco) 72 71 73, S Kjeldsen (Den) 71 72 73,
217 L Westwood (Eng) 69 73 75, H Stenson (Swe) 71 72 74, S Hend (Aus) 71 72 74,
218 J Harding (Rsa) 73 69 76, P Harrington (Irl) 70 73 75,
219 S Soderberg (Swe) 69 71 79, J Winther (Den) 74 69 76
