McIlroy falls into Abu Dhabi tailspin
RORY McILROY found himself in a tailspin while Tyrell Hatton soared like the eagle design that adorns the Abu Dhabi clubhouse yesterday.
After a flying start with two birdies in his first three holes, McIlroy crash-landed to fall five shots behind Hatton who has bagged three eagles so far in the $8million Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Seeking his third big win in 14 months, Hatton will resume this morning at 12 under par through 13 holes of his second round which was stopped yesterday because of bad light.
McIlroy is in a four-way tie for second having played a hole more and unless he closes the gap, he may find Hatton has flown.
The Co. Down man endured a frustrating day after his blemishfree round on Thursday. He started with birdies at the first and third to go 10 under but failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker to save par at the fourth.
A double-bogey followed at the fifth after he snap-hooked off the tee into the trees, and further dropped shots at the 10th and 13th had the four-time Major champion on course for the worst round of any player in the top 30 of the leaderboard.
Birdies at the eighth and 14th brought him back to seven under and he will resume with a 20-foot birdie opportunity on 15th.
The enigma that is Hatton was summed up by two tweets by the European Tour’s social media team put out yesterday, 20 minutes apart. The first showed him in a mocked up therapy session for angry golfers, and the second was footage of his latest eagle in Abu Dhabi, where he is threatening to pummel the field.
Two sides of the same fascinating coin, but we have long passed the point where Hatton’s achievements are overshadowed by his flares of temper on the course.
The Englishman was imperious. Resuming on seven under, one behind McIlroy, he sank his third eagle of the week at the second and then collected four straight birdies from the seventh. His only dropped shot was at the third.
Tommy Fleetwood was three over par after 10 holes of his opening round on Thursday, but wisely decided not to attempt his par putt on the 11th when play was suspended due to darkness.
But it was a completely different story for Fleetwood yesterday. The Ryder Cup star saved par on the 11th, played his last seven holes in four under par and then hit a bogey-free 67 to keep his hopes of a third victory in Abu Dhabi alive.
Defending champion Lee Westwood bogeyed the 13th and 14th before play was suspended to lie nine shots off the lead on three under, with playing partner and world No.3 Justin Thomas on the projected cut mark of one under.
That would be a shot too many for Graeme McDowell who bogeyed his final hole, the ninth, to finish on level par.
While Shane Lowry signed off with a birdie at the same hole, it was too little too late.
After signing for a 75 to complete his delayed first round, Lowry picked up four quick-fire birdies to give himself a fighting chance of making the cut.
The Open champion was still one under overall with five holes to play but coughed up shots to par on the fifth and eighth.
Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington is fighting to make the weekend after 12 successive pars left him on two under. Like Hatton and McIlroy, he resumes his round this morning.
‘Hatton was summed up by two tweets’