Swedish golfer Henrik Stenson's 11th consecutive round in the 60s that gave him a two-shot lead halfway through the 8 million dollars DP World Tour Championship on Friday helped him continue his dominance at the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates.
Stenson, who is also a brand ambassador for the golf course, shot a six-under-par 66 round in the second round and is now 10-under par after 36 holes. Overnight joint leader and world number one Rory McIlroy was among three players at eight-under par 136.
The Northern Irishman struggled a bit and then hit his tee shot into the water hazard on the 18th hole in his round of two-under par 70. Also at 136 were Scotland's Rishi Ramsay (69) and England's Danny Willett (67), Sport24 reported.
Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello shot the lowest round of the day, an eight-under par 64, to join Ireland's Shane Lowry (71), the overnight leader alongside McIlroy, England's Justin Rose (66), Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg (67) and Denmark's Olesen (70) at tied fifth place at 137.
Defending champion Stenson, who won the tournament last year with a record tally of 25-under par, made just one mistake early in his round, when he dropped a shot on the long par-3 fourth hole, but putted beautifully to make amends with seven birdies, including a brilliant two-putt birdie from 80-feet on the final hole.
Stenson said that he just came in knowing that he has got a good gameplan to play this golf course and he is trying to stick to that one. He added that he is not making any changes really and is hoping to keep on producing birdies.
The Swede said that he was hitting it all right, but he was also good on the greens. He added that he made some nice putts all day long and that really helped, claiming that the one he made on 16 and the one on 18, were nine.
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Stenson said that it was a pretty solid round of golf, but more than anything, it was made up on the greens.
McIlroy started with a birdie, but then did not make another until the 14th hole. In between, on the par-5 seventh hole, he hit an embarrassing second shot with a five-wood, a fat, ugly duckhook.
The world number one said that he wasn't really hitting it close enough and then when he did give himself some opportunities, he didn't make them. He added that he just found it hard to sort of get any momentum going out there.