(Reuters) – Rory McIlroy maintained his two-shot lead at the Dubai Invitational with a one-under-par second round of 70, despite hitting a quadruple bogey at the Dubai Creek Resort on Friday.
Even though he began the second round with two early birdies, McIlroy’s game was marred by a quadruple bogey seven on the par-three eighth hole. This threatened to undermine the impressive work he had done during the first round, where he carded an opening nine-under-par 62.
Despite this setback, McIlroy managed to keep himself at the top of the leaderboard by hitting three birdies on the back nine.
Yannik Paul, who was two shots behind McIlroy after the first round, managed to keep pace despite making three bogeys on the front nine, ultimately carding a 70 to stay two shots off the lead. Jeff Winther of Denmark also joined Paul in second place after shooting a five-under-par 65.
“I’m surprised, I haven’t played since Mauritius, first ball I hit was here on Monday, quite hungover, so I’m very, very pleased,” Winther said after celebrating his wife’s birthday at the weekend.
Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen, and Thriston Lawrence, along with Jordan Smith and Zander Lombard, remained three shots off the lead at seven-under-par.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)
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