McIlroy happy to overcome quadruple bogey blues and retain Dubai lead
Rory McIlroy. Picture : Getty Images
Rory McIlroy was pleased to "get my head back into it" and recover from a nasty quadruple bogey seven to retain his two-stroke lead in the inaugural Dubai Invitational.
The world number two picked up early birdies at the third and fourth to remain in front at Dubai Creek Resort before putting two balls in the water at the 214-yard eighth.
He eventually two-putted for a seven to find himself briefly trailing England’s Jordan Smith, but he bounced back and followed birdies at the par-five 10th and 13th holes with a two from 30 feet at the 202-yard 16th.
It all added up to a one-under 70 for the Holywood star, who leads by two strokes on 11-under par from Germany's Yannick Paul (70) and Denmark's Jeff Winther (66) with Smith (67) a shot further back in a tie for fourth alongside compatriot Tommy Fleetwood (69), South Africans Thriston Lawrence (70) and Zander Lombard (68) and Dane Thorbjorn Olesen (69).
"Yeah, I think if I look at the other 17 holes that I played, I played very, very well again," said McIlroy, who has made 14 birdies and that lone quadruple bogey in his first two rounds.
"Hit some good iron shots. Played not too dissimilarly to the way I played yesterday. I maybe held (sic) a couple more putts yesterday. But the conditions were getting a little trickier. Wind was up. Greens were firm and a couple miscues on the eighth hole.
"I felt like I did well just to get my head back into it and play some solid golf on the way in, and everyone seemed to find it a little more difficult today than yesterday. So it's nice to go into the weekend still with the lead."
McIlroy felt his chip and putt birdie at the par-five 10th was huge for his momentum and he was pleased to pick up two more shots coming home as he bids to win his opening tournament of the year for the first time in 16 years on tour.
"Yeah, 10 was big," he said. "I had a chance to bounce back on nine that I missed, but 10 was big. The two shots into 13 were big, too. And to make two relatively easy birdies, and then I give myself chances most of the back nine, which was nice, and I was able to convert a couple before that tough finishing stretch there on 17 and 18."
Tom McKibbin, meanwhile, shot a bogey-free, two-under 69 to move up to tied 20th in the 60-man field on two-under.
McIlroy and his amateur partner Abdulla Al Naboodah shot 67 to lead by two strokes on 17-under par heading into Saturday's final round of the concurrent Pro-Am event.
As for Keith Pelley's shock decision to step down as DP World Tour CEO in April to hand the reins to his deputy Guy Kinnings and take what he described as a dream opportunity to return to his native Toronto as President of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd, McIlroy was understanding.
"First, I'm happy for him," McIlroy said. "I think the job he's going to is one that he's probably wanted for a long, long time, being from Canada, especially Toronto and be able to run two major sports in Toronto, the hockey team and the basketball team, I think is a wonderful opportunity for Keith. So I'm happy for him in that regard."
Pelley will be replaced by Kinnings on April 2, and while there is no certainty the merger deal between the DP World Tour, the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's PIF will be done by then, McIlroy is confident Kinnings is the right man for the job.
"Obviously, in terms of where the DP World Tour is, Guy is going to step into that role, and Guy has been around the Tour in different capacities for quite a while, especially with everything going on in the game,"
McIlroy added. "Guy has been in pretty much all those rooms the last couple of years.
"So it's a pretty natural transition to go from Keith to Guy, and I'm confident Guy will do a good job."
