McIlroy slips five behind Hatton in Abu Dhabi

Tyrrell Hatton. Picture: Getty Images

Rory McIlroy cut a frustrated figure as he fell five shots by a rampant Tyrrell Hatton in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

As Graeme McDowell shot a second successive 72 to sit just outside the projected cut mark on level par and Shane Lowry looked certain to miss out on one-over after following a 75 with a rollercoaster 70, the Holywood star lost his driving mojo.

Just 24 hours after cruising to bogey-free 64 to lead by a shot from Hatton on eight-under, the world number six struggled to find fairways in swirling winds.

He saw four birdies cancelled out three bogeys and a double-bogey before play was suspended due to fading light as he tackled the 15th.

While he’s tied for second with France’s Romain Langasque (16 holes) and clubhouse leaders Jason Scrivener (70) of Australia and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond (69) on seven-under,  he has his work cut out to catch his Ryder Cup teammate.

“It was certainly tough out there, so I'm really happy to be five-under,” said Hatton, who made his third eagle of the week at the par-five second before following a bogey at the third with four birdies in a row from the seventh to lead on 12-under through 13 holes.

McIlroy looked set to take up where he left off on Thursday when he birdied the first and third with wedge shots inside five feet.

But after failing to get up and down from sand at the short fourth, he hooked his tee shot into trees at the fifth and ran up a double-bogey six after short-siding himself with his third.

He recovered with a birdie four at the eighth but became frustrated as Hatton racked up the birdies.

While he made a great up and down from 157 yards to salvage par at the ninth he was irritated after his group was timed by officials there, then carved his tee shot into woods at the 10th and ran up a bogey six after leaking his third into sand.

Another shot went at the 13th, where he plugged his approach in a bunker short of the green before he recovered with a birdie at the 14th.

Pádraig Harrington made 12 consecutive pars to remain on two-under, tied for 34th, but McDowell and Lowry are in danger of missing the cut.

McDowell was tied 66th on level par after two 72s with Lowry two shots outside the cut mark on one-over.

Resuming his delayed first round on four-over, he bogeyed 12th but birdied the 13th and 18th to card a three-over 75. But after battling back to level par with nine holes to play, he came home in one-over for a 70 that leaves him facing a weekend off.