Garcia, Molinari happy with 2nd round

dubai — Spaniard Sergio Garcia and Italian Francesco Molinari were quite pleased with how the day panned out after the duo carded identical rounds of 67 to be tied for the lead, at the halfway stage of the DP World Tour Championship.

Garcia as well as Molinari put in fine rounds of golf to jump three spots from Thursday, after the pair had shot similar rounds of 68 on the first day.

Both stroked five-under for at the Earth Course of the Jumeirah Golf Estates on Frday, for an overall nine-under 135. They hold a three-shot lead over overnight leader Lee Westwood.

“It was good fun. I mean, I try to enjoy myself as much as possible every time. Obviously, when you’re playing well, it’s a little easier. It was a good day,” Garcia said after his round.

“I did feel quite comfortable, other than a couple shots on the back nine, the tee shot on 12 and 13. But other than that, I felt quite comfortable. I felt like I was swinging the club really, really well. I was hitting a lot of good shots. I hit a couple iffy putts here and there but I made some really good ones, also. I was very happy to see all of that,” he added.

Meanwhile, Molinari revealed that it was tough to keep focus in the heat but was nonetheless happy with the round. “It was another good day. Maybe yesterday (Thursday), the start was even better, but played solid pretty much all the round. I had I think a little lapse in concentration on the 10th and then recovered well. I’m happy where I am after two rounds,” said Molinari.

“It’s really hot out there, so it’s tough to keep your focus for 18 holes. It takes a lot of energy to stay focused for four hours, four hours 15, whatever it was. It shouldn’t happen but it can happen. I’ll try to do better tomorrow (Saturday),” added the 34-year-old.

james@khaleejtimes.com