Pieters tops, McIlroy and Johnson in contention
ABU DHABI: Belgian Thomas Pieters carded a seven-under 65 in the second round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Friday to take the lead heading into the weekend, while defending champion Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson remain in contention.
Pieters, 25, moved to 12-under after hitting seven birdies in perfect conditions at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club and has a one-shot lead over Spaniard Jorge Campillo, who struck an impressive eight birdies.
“I’ve done well here in the past and it suits me. We hit driver wherever we can and the rest of it, it’s good ball-striking and going at a couple flags with wedges when you have them that you need to do that,” Pieters said.
“I hit most of the middle of the greens. If I had a wedge, I went at the flag and I think I got up-anddown or made birdie with a wedge in my hand three or four times. It wasn’t really that fancy today but a very good round.”
Campillo, 31, is targeting his first European Tour title at his 194th event.
“I have a top-10 here and I normally play good around here. So I do like the course. I think it’s a fair course. It’s tough but it’s playing easy but it can play hard with the wind,” he said.
Fleetwood, who birdied his last two holes, along with compatriot Ross Fisher and Frenchman Alexander Levy are 10-under with four-time major winner McIlroy a further shot behind after a second consecutive bogeyfree round.
McIlroy, competing in his first tournament since October, was sixth and joined by Andy Sullivan, Bernd Wiesberger, Paul Casey and Sam Brazel on nine-under.
World No 1 Johnson recovered from a poor first round to finish on eight-under and is joined by six others, including Fabrizio Zanotti, Chris Paisley and Brandon Grace.
Japan’s Hideto Tanihara, who shared the opening round lead on Thursday, fell well off the mark after a disappointing round that saw him hit two birdies and two bogeys to finish on six-under.
Meanwhile, Thai players Danthai Boonma and Chapchai Nirat currently lead the weather-disrupted SMBC Singapore yesterday.
Only six players completed round three, which was suspended due to bad weather.
Danthai finished 15 holes before play was suspended at 6.20pm local time. He fired six birdies against a lone bogey to bring his current total to nineunder.
Chapchai, who started round three with a seven-under 135 total, brought his score down even further after totaling two-under through nine holes.
Seven players are currently tied for third place at seven-under par. The group includes Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond and South Africa’s Shaun Norris as well as Ryo Ishikawa.
Jazz was enjoying a bogey-free round before the sirens sounded. He fired four birdies through 17 holes.
Norris made a double bogey on the par-five fourth, but that was offset with three consecutive birdies on holes sixth, seventh and eighth.
Japan’s “Bashful Prince” got off to a great start to his third round with two consecutive birdies on his opening two holes. He bounced back with another birdie after a double bogey on the third. He dropped a shot at the seventh for a total of seven-under-par through nine holes.
62 players will resume round three today. Agencies