English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Aaron Rai share a two-shot halfway lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
European Ryder Cup winner Fleetwood, who had been co-leader overnight, built on a fast start of three birdies to make a six-under par 66, with just a solitary bogey at the par-four 15th.
Rai, meanwhile, signed for an eight-under 64 having landed a superb albatross on the par-five second and finishing with back-to-back birdies, leaving him alongside Fleetwood at 14-under heading into the weekend.
Three players lead the chasing pack, Andy Sullivan, Nicolai Hojgaard and Richard Sterne all on 12-under, while Ireland’s Shane Lowry is in a group another stroke further back.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy sits in a share of 20th after a second consecutive round of 68 – which included dropped shots on the third and 10th – left him at eight under.
Fleetwood, twice a winner of the event, is hoping to maintain his momentum through the weekend.
“(It was a) really good day. I got off to the perfect start, birdie, birdie, birdie, that was good, especially when you have had a good round the day before,” he said.
“They always say it’s hard to follow up a good round with another good one, or a low one with another one.
“Starting well was really important. I just did a really good job. I hit a lot of good shots, but a few times today I drove it into the rough and we read the lies really well.”
Fleetwood added in quotes on the DP Tour website: “I felt like we did a great job of controlling the ball out of the rough, and that was really pleasing.
“I feel like I putted solid again, six-under was a very good score.”
Rai had holed his approach shot on the second from 218 yards with a six iron and later also dropped a 26-foot birdie on the 17th in his strong finish.
“The wind was a little bit down off the left and that green is so fast, and slopes front-to-back, that anything pitching a few yards onto the green always gets down to the bottom,” the world number 30 said on his albatross.
“I actually caught it a little bit clean off the face, the line was great.
“I think it probably pitched around the front edge and chased its way down there. We couldn’t see it from back on the fairway, so it was a nice surprise.”
PA
