Friday 22 November 2019 18:45, UK
Rory McIlroy vowed to get back on track over the weekend at the DP World Tour Championship after his hopes of a fifth win of the year took a hit after a frustrating second round.
McIlroy was just one off the lead overnight following his classy 64 on Thursday, but he needed 10 more shots to negotiate the Earth Course on Friday as he slipped six shots behind halfway leader Mike Lorenzo-Vera.
The world No 2 looked out of sorts early on and, after five opening pars, he found water from the tee at the short sixth and ran up a double-bogey before getting one back at the seventh, only to drop further shots at the 10th and 13th, where he fluffed a chip and did well to limit the damage to a four.
McIlroy almost pitched in for eagle at the 14th and settled for a tap-in birdie, but after another good save at 17, he shove his drive at the last too far right and found water, although he managed to find the green with a fairway-wood and two-putt to salvage a par-five to stay at six under.
"Obviously I just didn't quite have it today," said McIlroy, who is playing in his final event of the year before taking a two-month break over the winter. "The wind was up a little bit, there was a lot of into-off-the-right winds, and I was trying to hold them up and I was losing them left a little bit. I just need to do a little work on the range and try to figure that out.
"But I hung in there today. The putts that went in yesterday went over the edges of the holes today, and I also didn't know the rough was as bad as it was. I was hitting it in the fairway most of the week, but I hit it in the rough today and it was a bit more difficult.
"I just wasn't quite there. The wind was tricky and the course played a little trickier, but obviously I just didn't quite play as well as yesterday. It's a very fickle game. I've always said that one day it can seem very easy and someone up there says 'no, not so fast', and brings you back down to earth. That's golf!
"But I battled through it and I'm still in with a shout to have a go at winning this tournament. I just need to stick the head down over the weekend and get in there and try to shoot a couple of good scores."
