Antoine Rozner takes lead as Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton lurk in Dubai
Antoine Rozner carded a bogey-free 65 to move to 9-under par and into the lead of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Friday.
Now, the Frenchman will head into the third round with a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton, who both finished with a 69 at Jumeriah Golf Estates in the United Arab Emirates.
McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, remains the leader to win the season-ending Race to Dubai. He is seeking his third consecutive title and sixth overall.
But Friday, the spotlight was on Rozner, who said it was a round to remember.
"Just no mistakes. Of course, I putted really well," Rozner said. "It's one of those days where everything goes in and I had a ton of fun out there."
And it set him up for the weekend.
"I just think the confidence clicked and everything is going the right way," he said. "... I'm going to try to focus on having two solid days and see how it goes at the end."
Rozner went into the clubhouse as the leader after missing an eagle putt at the par-4 No. 16 and holing his birdie - the seventh of the round.
McIlroy, who shared the lead with Hatton after the first round, birdied four of the first seven holes before he gave back two strokes with bogeys at the par-4 Nos. 8 and 11 holes.
"I got off to a great start, 4-under through seven," McIlroy said. "Feeling like I was in total control of what I was doing and then I just started to miss a few fairways around the turn. When you start missing fairways, the way the course is set up this week, you're going to start to struggle.
"So I made two bogeys in the next three holes. Steadied the ship a little bit but felt like I let a couple of chances slip by on 14 and 15. But played the last three holes well. It was nice to finish with a birdie and at least shoot something in the 60s after the start that I had."
For Hatton, of England, a 43-foot putt at No. 6 produced his first of four birdies on the round, which also included one bogey. Despite his lofty position on the leaderboard, Hatton wasn't satisfied.
"Pretty similar thing to yesterday to be honest in terms of just not feeling very comfortable. Yeah, just every shot felt like a bit of a struggle, I guess," he said. "3-under is a pretty acceptable score, all things considered but naturally you always kind of - you want to be better.
"So yeah, I guess it's fair to say I'm pretty frustrated."
Perched right behind the leaders is Joaquin Niemann of Chile, whose 67 left him alone in fourth and two shots back of Rozner.
Three shots behind at 6-under are Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark, Sweden's Jesper Svensson and Irishman Shane Lowry, all shooting 67s. They are tied with Keita Nakajima of Japan, who carded his second consecutive 69.
McIlroy has a significant lead in the Race to Dubai standings and is all but assured of the season-ending DP World Tour title. He would not allow himself to presume anything on Friday.
"At this point, I'm just trying to win the golf tournament, and if I win the golf tournament, then everything else that happens alongside that is nice," he said.
