Tommy Fleetwood and Aaron Rai have two-shot halfway lead in Abu Dhabi

Join the Miguel Delaney team: Inside Football Join the Miguel Delaney Inside newsletter to get exclusive access and unparalleled insight. Football Join the Miguel Delaney Inside newsletter Football newsletterEnglish duo Tommy Fleetwood and Aaron Rai share a two-shot halfway lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.European Ryder Cup winner Fleetwood, who had been co-leader overnight, built on a fast start of three birdies to make a six-under par 66, with just a solitary bogey at the par-four 15th.Rai, meanwhile, signed for an eight-under 64 having landed a superb albatross on the par-five second and finishing with back-to-back birdies, leaving him alongside Fleetwood at 14-under heading into the weekend.Three players lead the chasing pack, Andy Sullivan, Nicolai Hojgaard and Richard Sterne all on 12-under, while Ireland’s Shane Lowry is in a group another stroke further back.Masters champion Rory McIlroy sits in a share of 20th after a second consecutive round of 68 – which included dropped shots on the third and 10th – left him at eight under.Fleetwood, twice a winner of the event, is hoping to maintain his momentum through the weekend.”(It) was a really good day.” “I got off to a perfect start. Birdie birdie birdie. That was great, especially after a successful round the previous day,” he said.They always say that it is hard to follow a good round up with another one or a bad one with another.”Getting off to a good start was crucial. I did an excellent job. I hit many good shots but today I drove into the rough several times and we read the lie really well.Fleetwood told the DP Tour: “I feel like we did a fantastic job of controlling ball out of rough and that was really satisfying.”I felt like I putted well again. Six-under was an excellent score.”Rai holed his second approach shot from 218 yard with a 6 iron, and dropped a 26 foot birdie later on the 17th as part of his strong finish.”The wind was down off the left. That green is fast and slopes from front to back, so anything pitching onto the green gets down at the bottom,” said world number 30 on his albatross.”I caught it cleanly off the face. The line looked great.”I believe it pitched around the edge of the front and chased down there. We couldn’t even see it on the fairway.”PA
2025-11-07 18:07:36