Stenson Leads As McIlroy Slips In Dubai

Henrik Stenson put himself on course to retain his DP World Tour Championship title as he roared into a two-shot lead after the second round in Dubai.

As Rory McIlroy’s challenge stuttered on the back-nine, Stenson cruised to an inward 32 to return a six-under 66 which got him to 10 under at the halfway stage of the season finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

A raft of earlier starters had given encouragement to the first-round leaders with some excellent scores, with Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Justin Rose making huge strides up the leaderboard.

Cabrera-Bello threatened something truly special on the Earth Course as he birdied the opening five holes and picked further shots at the eighth and 10th.

But hopes of the European Tour’s first sub-60 round ended when the Spaniard bogeyed the next two, although he bounced back to eagle the long 14th before he rolled in another birdie putt at 17 as he carded a 64 to set the clubhouse target at seven under.

Rose, who was four over after 10 holes in his first round before salvaging a 71, also hit the birdie trail as he cantered to the turn in 33 and added four more birdies after the turn to hit the front on eight under.

But Rose took the gloss off his round as he ran up a scrappy six at the last to card a 66, before Kristoffer Broberg birdied four of the last six to join the clubhouse leaders at seven under.

McIlroy, meanwhile, birdied the opening hole for the second day running before embarking on a battle with an occasionally errant driver and a cold putter as he put together a run of 10 straight pars.

A bunkered drive at the 12th led to his first bogey of the week, but he hit back with birdies at the 14th and 15th before blotting his card again at 16 with three putts from 10 feet.

The world No 1, already assured of the Race to Dubai title for the second time, responded with a two at the 17th and he scrambled a par at the last after blocking his drive into water.

McIlroy’s two-under 70 left him two adrift of the defending champion, who birdied three of the first five holes while giving one back at the fourth.

The Swede’s long game was in good order after the turn as he birdied the 10th and 13th, and he added two more in the last three holes to claim the outright lead.

McIlroy shares second place with Danny Willett, who fired seven birdies in a 67, while Richie Ramsay earned a place alongside the world No 1 for the third round after a three-under 69.

Shane Lowry, who shared the overnight lead with McIlroy, struggled early on as he bogeyed three of the first four holes while managing birdies at the second and ninth.

But the Irishman provided the highlight of the day at the 183-yard par-three 13th, where his perfectly struck mid-iron pitched six feet short of the pin and rolled gently into the cup for a superb hole-in-one.

Lowry parred in to card a 71 which leaves him on seven under alongside Cabrera-Bello, Rose, Broberg and Thorbjorn Olesen (70), while English pair David Howell and Tyrrell Hatton are a further stroke adrift.