Tommy Fleetwood finds his rhythm at Omega Dubai Desert Classic to extend run of consecutive cuts made

Englishman fires lowest score of round two to come within four strokes of leader Eddie Pepperell

England's Eddie Pepperell reacts on the 10th fairway during the second round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai. AP Photo

England's Lee Westwood follows his ball on the third fairway. AP Photo

Sweden's Henrik Stenson plays a shot on the third fairway. AP Photo

Tommy Fleetwood of Britain plays a shot during the second round. AFP

Joost Luiten of Netherlands and his caddy walk on the 16th hole. Getty Images

Bryson Dechambeau of United States plays a shot during the second round. AFP

David Lipsky of the United States plays a shot during the second round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. AFP

Matt Wallace of England lines up a putt on the third green. Getty Images

Sergio Garcia of Spain plays his third shot on the third hole. Getty Images

Shane Lowry of Ireland plays his third shot on the third hole. Getty Images

Dean Burmester of South Africa reacts to his bogey putt on the sixth green. Getty Images

Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark plays his third shot on the first hole. Getty Images

A general view of the ninth hole at Emirates Golf Club. Getty Images

Henrik Stenson of Sweden, left, and Lee Westwood of England on the third hole. Getty Images

Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland plays his shot from the seventh tee. Getty Images

Robert MacIntyre of Scotland reacts to his birdie putt on the sixth green. Getty Images

Romain Langasque of France walks on after playing his second shot on the 13th hole. Getty Images

Graeme McDowell plays his third shot on the sixth hole. Getty Images

Tommy Fleetwood of England looks on from the putting green. Getty Images

Eddie Pepperell of England, left, and Viktor Hovland of Norway walk on the 14th fairway. Getty Images

Ian Poulter of England plays his second shot on the 13th hole. Getty Images

Martin Kaymer of Germany plays his second shot on the 13th hole. Getty Images

Matthew Fitzpatrick of England looks on from a bunker on the 12th hole. Getty Images

Jordan Smith of England plays his shot from the 12th tee. Getty Images

Alvaro Quiros of Spain plays his second shot on the 10th hole. Getty Images

The championship trophy is pictured on the course. Getty Images

Tommy Fleetwood extended his run of consecutive cuts made worldwide to 44 tournaments, as he fired the lowest score of Round 2 at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Scarcely during that run will the world No 10 have paid much thought to the cut line.

His form over that spell has been such that, more often than not, his thoughts have been taken by contending for titles rather than survival.

That was not the case at Emirates Golf Club, as he teed it up on Friday afternoon at 3-over par after a struggle on the greens on the opening day.

A vastly improved display with the flat stick meant he more resembled the player who finished runner up at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA on Sunday.

His second-round 65 vaulted him up to a tie for eighth, and within four strokes of the 36-hole leader Eddie Pepperell.

“You never really want to think about the cut, but obviously when you start off at 3-over the first priority is to make sure that you made the cut and play for the weekend,” Fleetwood said.

“That is the first priority every time you peg it up week-to-week as professional golfers – to make cuts and make money.

“First and foremost, it is try and get yourself in the cut line. I feel like I navigated the front nine really well and the course has played so much harder this year so you can't take anything for granted.

“Once I got through the front nine, the back nine with three par-5s, I felt like there was more chances, so I felt very comfortable walking to the 10th tee.

“But at no point was it about trying get yourself up the leaderboard, try and make the cut. It was just about doing my best.”

Fleetwood’s run of made cuts extends back to 2018, and he is aware of the streak he is on.

“It’s something I'm very proud of,” Fleetwood said.

“I would like some more wins possibly as well. It's so easy to make excuses that I wasn't putting well this week or, like yesterday, I could have easily said, 'I'm putting terrible this week, just put it down to that and let's get on with next week.'

“To have played that consistently over that course of time is something I'm proud of.

"I think it shows a lot about how I go about things, about the people that I work with, and the preparation we put in.

“I'm sure it's going to come to an end at some point, but for now I’m just happy I'm still here for the weekend.”