ENGLISHMAN RICHARD BLAND holds a share of the lead at the halfway stage of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic after posting two successive rounds of 67, while Rory McIlroy remains firmly in contention.
The pre-tournament build-up had been dominated by a war of words between McIlroy and American Patrick Reed, who were another stroke back on eight under but will play in different groups in Sunday’s third round.
McIlroy picked up an eagle on the 13th to leave him just two shots off the lead while Reed’s second round included three birdies on the second, fourth and 17th holes.
Joining the pair on that number were Englishmen Matt Wallace, Dan Bradbury and Ian Poulter, Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, Australian Lucas Herbert and Spain’s Angel Hidalgo.
The 49-year-old returned to complete his second round on Saturday morning after making three birdies over the first four holes before play was suspended due to fading light on Friday.
And he carded three more birdies and a solitary bogey in his remaining 14 holes to set the target at 10 under par.
There was disappointment for Ireland’s Shane Lowry, Tom McKibbin and Padraig Harrington as they all exited the tournament at the end of the second round.
Lowry carded a 75 to finish on one-over. McKibbin also finished on one-over after posting a 71, while Harrington was further down on two-over despite an impressive 65 which included eight birdies. However it wasn’t enough to help him recover from his opening round of 81.
Belgium’s Thomas Pieters joined Bland at the summit after closing his Saturday 67 with seven birdies on the back nine before American amateur Michael Thorbjornsen made it a three-way tie.
Thorbjornsen carded an eagle, seven birdies and one bogey in his 64 to grab a share of the lead.
On the charge 💪 @McIlroyRory makes eagle at 13. #HeroDDC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/ujU4J5JTak
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 28, 2023
Scotland’s Connor Syme, Swede Marcus Kinhult and Spaniard Adri Arnaus sat one shot off the lead on nine under.
Bland has made just one bogey in the opening two rounds and is happy with where his game is at.
He said: “Every part of my game is in pretty good shape.
“The only dropped shot was at the sixth this morning where (on my) second hole of the day, I misjudged the temperature and chipped to three feet and missed.
“So other than that, it’s been pretty stress-free which is kind of nice.”
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Shane Lowry, Tom McKibbin and Padraig Harrington
Kane’ s second goal oozed class, a great three points for Spurs I thought they were struggling to break Villa down until the last 15 mins.
Grealish caught wanting too much time on the ball a few times, he’ll need to adjust to Premier League, on the bright side for Villa Mings put some shift in at the back, looks top quality.
@Sean: glrealish has lost 18 games in a row.. The longest of any player in premiership history
@Chonky Racoon: how did you work that one out considering they came up through the playoffs? Unless you mean he has lost his last 18 premier league games in which case that’s just a completely meaningless start as he only appeared in 16 league games the year they went down so it’s a stat spread over 3 Prem seasons over 5 years apart.
Clinical finishes from Kane. So important fir spurs that he stays fit. Eriksen showed his class. Would love him to sign a new contract. Decent first showing from Ndombele. With Son, Ali & La Celso still to come in fir spurs it could be another good season.
90 minute game, Spurs showed patience and class in the last 20 minutes. Kane has the X factor. Ndoble could be a player.
Spurs looked like a real side tonight, in the past they would have lost that match, but a serious team now the last 20 mins they showed it. Grealish well he’ll have better days.
Delighted your man lost the ball for Spurs’ second.
Typical kane.. Does nothing for 70 odd mins then sores a jammy goal.