DUBAI // Standing on the 18th green at the Earth Course on Friday, Rory McIlroy dedicated a considerable chunk of his time to the giant leaderboard to his right.
At that point, very nearly halfway through this DP World Tour Championship, the defending champion was four shots off the lead. Situation surveyed, he casually rolled in a four-footer for birdie to close the gap on those above him, but by the close of play he had fallen six behind the leader, Henrik Stenson.
By McIlroy’s calculations, though, the giant Swede is just within range.
“Anything five or six back, I still feel like I have a decent chance,” he said after second-round 67, which included a meticulous dismantling of the par-fives.
He sustained his deadeye ball-striking from Thursday, but the key to his improvement was that the putts found the dark. The most notable was his eagle effort on 14.
So a six-under par suggests that the sabre trophy might stay in his possession a little longer, after all. McIlroy will have taken a particular liking to it, too, as it remains the last piece of silverware he has collected on a golf course.
That concluded McIlroy’s dream year, when he sealed a second major and topped the money lists on both sides of the Atlantic. His 2013 has been nothing like last year, but recent performances have been rich in promise.
“It’s always nice to go into the weekend feeling you have a chance to win the tournament,” McIlroy said. “That’s the stage I’ve been trying to get to for the past few months, and I finally feel like I’ve got to the stage now where I can contend, week in, week out.”
It was implied pre-tournament that, given he came into the European Tour’s season finale placed 46th in the standings, that McIlroy could fly somewhat under the radar. Yet he does not really do stealth, wrapped Friday in a similar bright red shirt to the one he wore on the final day in Dubai last year. It made him easily distinguishable to a large majority of the gallery.
“The support was great,” McIlroy said. “It was great to play in front of them and hopefully I can make some noise at the weekend. The rare times I‘ve got in contention this year, I feel like that’s when I’ve played my best golf. Hopefully that can continue.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
