DUBAI: Rory McIlroy's attempt to exorcise the demons of 2022 failed as he went into the lake guarding the 18th green once again. But this time at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, McIlroy still has the luxury of a three-shot cushion and has a full round to go, with the event having a rare Monday finish. McIlroy shot 7-under 65 as he broke free from being two behind the 36-hole leaders to a three-shot solo lead after 54.
When he came to the 18th tee, McIlroy was bogey free for the day, four shots ahead of the field and had a little over 250-yards to get to the 18th green in two. He was looking for an eagle at a hole that gave him a lot of grief a year ago in the same event. Last year, it was the fourth and final day and McIlroy was shut out of a playoff that Viktor Hovland won against Richard Bland. This time again McIlroy tried the same second shot and had the same result. This time he has another chance on Monday.
He admitted, "Yeah, again, like the exact same scenario as the last day here, Sunday last year here -this is Sunday (but third round). But yeah, look, if I'm in that position again, and I don't quite need to take it on, I probably won't but we'll see. Hopefully I have a cushion coming down tomorrow."
McIlroy is seeking a winning start to 2023 besides joining Ernie Els as the only three-time winners of what is the often dubbed as the Major of the Middle East. McIlroy was chased by two English players, Callum Shinkwin (67) and Dan Bradbury (68), who is having a dream start to his DP World Tour career. It is a start that had McIlroy gushing about him and the world No. 1 will get to see the young gun, who already has awin in Jo'burg and grabbed a car last week with a hole-inone in Abu Dhabi. Shinkwin and Bradbury are at 12-under.
The three co-leaders after 36 holes all fell behind. Richard Bland (71) fell to tied fourth, Thomas Pieters (72) fell to tied 11th and world No. 2 amateur, Michael Thorbjornsen (73) fell to tied 19th.
Bland, 12-under with two holes to go, had a chance to get closer to McIlroy, but the 49-year-old bogeyed 17th and failed to birdie 18th. Bland was among the seven, who shared third place at 11-under. The others were Adri Arnaus (70), Ian Poulter (69), Angel Hidalgo (69), last week's winner, Victor Perez (66), Shaun Norris (67) and Patrick Reed (69), who had a shot lodged on a palm tree on the 17th.
