Rory McIlroy confident of Dubai success as he goes into weekend just one off the pace despite ‘rough’ ride

As the Frenchman shot a seven-under 65 to lead on nine-under, McIlroy birdied four of his first seven holes before losing his driving mojo.

Bogeys at the eighth and tenth took the wind out of his sails and seven frustrating pars followed before he finished with a two-putt birdie after hitting a stellar 270-yard five-wood to 15 feet at the 18th.

The world number three found just four of his last nine fairways, but he is confident he can win at Jumeirah Golf Estates for the third time and wrap up his sixth Race to Dubai title.

"Look, my comfort level around this place, it's always been there ever since the first time we played back in 2009," said McIlroy, who shares second place with Ryder Cup teammate Tyrell Hatton.

"But the course is set up different. I need to do a better job of hitting the fairways. I did for the first few holes, and then I let it slip a bit. I started to miss the driver a bit left in the middle of the round.

"So tried to straighten that out, and again, if I can hit fairways out here, then the greens are very receptive and you give yourself plenty of chances.

"But yeah, look, I'm so comfortable around this place and I've had success before. So I'm liking my chances going into the weekend."

Like McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Tom McKibbin also believe they can achieve their goals if they can stay out of the thick rough.

Lowry was four under after seven holes and while he stumbled with bogeys at the seventh and eighth, birdies at the 10th, 11th and 15th saw him card a five-under 67 that left him tied for fifth, just three shots behind Rozner on six-under.

"It was a good day," said the ultra consistent Lowry, who won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with McIlroy this year but hasn't had an individual win for 14 months.

"Pretty happy. I knew I needed to go out and shoot a decent score if I want to get myself back in the tournament and I did that. Hopefully I can keep it going."

Lowry felt he played better for his opening 71 but he had more luck on the greens today and hopes to put the entire package together over the weekend.

"I holed a couple more putts early on and got myself going."

Lowry explained. "I felt like I played great yesterday. I missed a lot of chances early on, but I felt like I was hitting great putts and from there, the hole starts to get a bit smaller, and I struggled to make birdies.

"But today, I felt like I rolled the ball really well. Put it all together over the weekend, and we should be good."

Finding fairways, he believes, is going to be critical.

"I know my tee shot on nine was quite a bit in the rough, but my tee shot on eight was only six inches from the semi-rough, and I had to chip out sideways.

"The rough is very penal out there and you need to drive the ball on the fairway.

"But when you do hit on the fairway, there's a lot of chances, the greens are receptive and rolling really well. So hit fairways and I'll be all right."

He added: "The course is set up brilliantly. This is the way golf should be. It should be penal for missing fairways, and there should be a premium on driving the ball in the fairway and that's what it is this week."

McKibbin also paid for missing fairways, but he was pleased to card a two-under 70, which left him tied for 16th and projected 12th in the race for 10 PGA Tour cards as Rozner jumped to the top of the queue.

"It was a nice, satisfying round," McKibbin said after making five birdies and three bogeys.

"I think you have to expect to drop a few shots with just how tough the rough is. You go two yards in the rough, and it's very hard to get to the green. So it's always nice to take advantage of a couple of birdies early on and then sort of try and hold on and try and make more birdies.

"But it's just, really just fairways and greens out there.

"Three under going into the weekend, hopefully I can try and play like I have the last couple of days.

"We'll try and tidy up a few things, but overall, I've been pretty happy to shoot two rounds under par so far."