DP World Tour Championship: Antoine Rozner razes Earth Course as Rory McIlroy and Paul Waring stall

Fan favourites go cold just as Frenchman finds his touch in Race to Dubai finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland tees off on the 16th hole on day two of the DP World Tour Championship 2024 at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 15, 2024. Getty Images

Leader Antoine Rozner of France on the 18th. Getty Images

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland misses an eagle putt on the 18th. Getty Images

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland after a missed eagle putt on the 18th green. Getty Images

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his third shot on the 14th hole. Getty Images

Antoine Rozner of France plays his second shot on the 18th hole. Getty Images

Thriston Lawrence of South Africa tees off on the fourth hole. Getty Images

Paul Waring of England after his second shot on the 3rd hole. AP

Tyrrell Hatton of England on the 16th hole. Getty Images

Shane Lowry of Ireland smiles on the 18th green. Getty Images

Rare are the times when Rory McIlroy is treading the fairways of a golf course anywhere and he is not the lead attraction. Particularly when it comes to DP World Tour events in Dubai.

Yet, on Friday afternoon at Jumeirah Golf Estates, it was he who had to deal with the roars of the galleries of the match in front pealing back down the hole towards him.

Worse still, he might have had the chorus of What’s That Coming over the Hill? by The Automatic ringing round his mind. Only with the words “is it the Ware Dog?” substituted for “is it a monster?”.

When Paul Waring suggested he had home advantage coming into the DP World Tour Championship, it was taken to be because he knows this track so well.

It has been his home course since he relocated to the UAE last year. As such, after winning the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Sunday, he felt like he barely needed much practice in the days ahead of this week’s season finale.

Round 2 showed that it also meant he had the home fans on his side, too. The 39-year-old Englishman had a fan club following him around the Earth Course, all wearing bucket hats as well as white T-shirts bearing the legend: “The Ware Dog.”

They were obviously diehard fans – or perhaps, more likely, good mates – of the home hero. Even Waring’s caddie, Alex Evans, was getting some affection, with the occasional shout of “Go on, Alex!”.

And, for nine holes at least, everything was looking so good. When Waring went on a mini-burner, as he birdied the seventh and eighth, he and McIlroy held the lead at 8-under.

Both suddenly went cold, though, and as they did so, a long way in front of them Antoine Rozner started to tear up the course to roar past them.

The Frenchman fired six birdies in the space of eight holes on his way to a 7-under-par round of 65. It took him to 9-under for the tournament, giving him the lead ahead of the start of round three.

“It was one of those days where everything goes in, and I had a ton of fun out there,” Rozner said. “With my caddie we had really good fun, it was one of those days where everything goes right, and I took advantage of it.”

Just as Rozner was signing his card, Waring was going a funny way about earning a birdie at the 14th. He was beside the green of the par-5 in two, but botched his chip, leaving himself a 48ft downhill putt. Cue more cheers, as he promptly rolled it right in.

From there on in, though, the wheels came off. He bogeyed the following three holes, and was only able to finish the par-5 last in par. That meant he signed for a 1-under-par 71 that had promised so much more.

Much the same could be said of McIlroy, too. The world No 3 was 4-under for his round after seven holes, but was becalmed thereafter.

At least he was able to limit the damage, and held on for a share of second place, again with his playing partner Tyrrell Hatton. Their tally of 8-under is one shot behind Rozner.

McIlroy acknowledged he was frustrated with how things went after his fast start, but pointed out he is still well placed to challenge on Sunday.

“My comfort level around this place, it’s always been there ever since the first time we played back in 2009,” McIlroy said.

“The course is set up differently. I need to do a better job of hitting the fairways. I did for the first few holes, and then I let it slip a bit. I started to miss the driver a bit left in the middle of the round. I tried to straighten that out, and again, if I can hit fairways out here, then the greens are very receptive and you give yourself plenty of chances.

“But I’m so comfortable around this place and I’ve had success before. So I’m liking my chances going into the weekend.”

The fact Hatton is just a shot off the lead seems remarkable, given he has scarcely appeared happy at any point on the first two days. He, too, said he was frustrated, and is hoping for an improvement over the weekend.

“Taking the positives from two days where I don’t feel like I’ve played the kind of golf I’m capable of, [yet] we’re one shot off the lead going into the weekend,” Hatton said.

“Hopefully, I can find something and hit it a little bit better. That would make this weekend a little bit more exciting for me. I'll go out there tomorrow and give it my best as I have done the last two days, and just hope something clicks.”