McIlroy and Hatton share halfway lead in Dubai
Rory McIlroy. Picture: Getty Images
Winning takes care of everything in golf, and that's Rory McIlroy's focus this weekend after he overcame his back-nine frustrations to share the halfway lead in the DP World Tour Championship.
The Masters champion is bidding to win a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai crown, and while myriad permutations could see him leapfrog top-ranked Eugenio Chacarra and match Colin Montgomerie's eight Harry Vardon Trophy wins, he knows that a win would avoid the need for any calculators.
"I want to win this tournament," the Holywood star said after making a birdie at the 18th to post a one-under 71, leaving him tied for the lead with Tyrrell Hatton, who shot 69, on five-under par.
"You know, I've won four times down the road at Emirates. It'd be nice to win four times here.
"So yeah, I want to win the tournament. And if I win the tournament, that's all I can do. It doesn't really matter what any of the other guys do.
"If I go and I win the first trophy on Sunday, then the second trophy should take care of itself."
While victory would guarantee McIlroy a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title, second place would also be enough if neither Chacarra nor Patrick Reed wins.
Reed's challenge looks over after a 77 left him 49th in the 60-man field on eight over, while third would require Chacarra to finish outside the top 11.
As things stand, Chacarra looks determined to make McIlroy sweat for the Race to Dubai crown after he birdied the 17th and 18th to shoot 71 and share 11th on one-under.
But he mixed six birdies with five bogeys on another blustery day on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, while McIlroy again looked like a man on a mission, playing his first 10 holes in four-under par.
The six-time Major winner looked set to leave the field in his exhaust fumes as he hit the homeward stretch.
But a poor drive led to a bogey at the 12th, followed by bogeys at the 16th and 17th, compacted the leaderboard.
While he made amends by rolling in a six-footer for birdie at the last to tie for the lead with Hatton, one clear of Joost Luiten (73) and Kristoffer Reitan (70), he admitted that he got frustrated by the difficulty of the course.
"Once you do start putting yourself out of position on this golf course, this setup, these conditions, it starts to get very, very difficult," McIlroy confessed.
"It's very easy to make bogeys out there. If you miss a fairway, or even if you miss a green, the lies around the greens aren't very good.
"But you know it was nice to at least birdie the last and feel like I salvaged the day a little bit with that birdie."
He refused to blame a loss of concentration for the tee shots that cost him those three bogeys.
"If anything, I started to get frustrated with the golf course as it dries out," he said. "Lies in the fairways that aren't very good, and greens start to get bumpy.
"But I think it's just the nature of it. It's a tough test. I've been coming to this golf course for 17 years, and this is the toughest I think it's ever played.
"In my mind, you should be going out and shooting 66 or 65, and the course just isn't set up that way this week. And you just have to show a little bit more patience out there."
Chacarra is only four shots behind, and if he felt he still had a chance to win the tournament when he signed his card facing a six-shot deficit, he's clearly not ready to wave the white flag.
"My good's good, but I'm making too many mistakes and I'm not being able to get the momentum going," he said after finishing with two birdies. "But I still have two days. I'm happy with that finish."
He's certainly not surprised to see McIlroy at the top but feels he still has a big say in his fate.
"I knew it was going to happen," he said. "It's one of Rory's favourite courses, and he's had so much success here. He's obviously one of the best players in the world.
"So we know it's going to be tough. As I said, there are two rounds of golf; 36 holes is a lot.
"I like how I'm hitting it. There's been a lot of birdies in harder conditions. So if I can clean up the card a little, I like my chance on the weekend.
"If Rory comes here and wins the tournament, he's a deserved champion. There's nothing I can really do."
"I'm going to try to win the tournament. As of right now, I'm six shots back. The wind is kind of pumping. It's not easy out there.
"So, like I said, hopefully they don't go really, really low. And, I mean, six shots on a weekend, it's not a lot."
While Jon Rahm's brace of 71s leaves him just three shots off the pace on two-under, Chacarra is just a shot further back as he bids to join his compatriot and Seve Ballesteros and become just the third Spaniard to win the Race to Dubai.
