Shane Lowry carried over his fine ball striking from yesterday as he birdied three of the four par-3s at Abu Dhabi Golf Club today to take a one-stroke lead into the weekend.
The Irishman, who carded a course-record equalling 62 yesterday, went round in 70, offsetting two bogeys with four birdies. While he bomb-and-gouged it yesterday, his approach play with Srixon’s latest 7585 and Z785 irons proved to be the key weapon today, especially on the short holes where he converted three birdie chances.
“I knew today was going to be a bit of a weird day after shooting such a low score yesterday,” said Lowry. “I just tried to go out and play like I played yesterday and to be honest, right from the start, I really feel like I played pretty good today.
“My iron play has been pretty good and I’ve been playing the par-3s well so far.” – Shane Lowry
Lowry leads on 12-under-par ahead of South African pair Louis Oosthuizen and Richard Sterne with Lee Westwood a shot further back on 10-under. Ian Poulter, Scott Jamieson, Tom Lewis and Soren Kjeldsen sit on 9-under while Brooks Koepka is part of a large group on 7-under.
Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood made the weekend on the number (3-under-par) while Ryder Cup pair Henrik Stenson and Thorbjorn Olesen were casualties of the half-way cut.
