Tiger, Rory miss cut

ABU DHABI GOLF

ABU DHABI—Britain’s Justin Rose zoomed to the top of the second-round leaderboard at the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday while world No. 1 Rory McIlroy and second-ranked Tiger Woods missed the cut.

McIlroy went out after slumping to a second successive threeover 75 on his debut with his new Nike clubs and Woods suffered the same fate after being handed a belated two-shot penalty for a bizarre rules infringement at the fifth hole.

Rose (69) almost crept under the radar as he went one stroke clear of fellow Briton Jamie Donaldson (70), Dane Thorbjorn Olesen (69) and Gonzalo FernandezCastano of Spain (67) at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

Woods was ultimately undone by tournament referee Andy McFee.

Woods had struck a wayward shot into a desert bush at the fifth and, after consulting playing partner Martin Kaymer, the pair agreed he should be allowed a free drop because it had become imbedded.

The regulations, however, allow for a free drop in such circumstances only if the ball has finished anywhere but in sand and Woods was therefore handed his penalty at the end of the round.

“It’s tough because I didn’t get off to a good start but I fought and got it back,” the 37-year-old American said after eventually posting a three-over-par 75 for a three-over tally of 147 to miss the cut by one stroke.

McIlroy, playing alongside Woods and Kaymer, was as disappointed as Woods.

It was pretty much the same as yesterday,” he said. “When you don’t hit the fairways on this course you can’t score.