McIlroy chips in at the last to move into contention

Rory McIlroy moved to inside two shots of the DP global tour Championship leaders after chipping in from the bunker at 18 to card a gap spherical sixty eight on Thursday.

McIlroy picked up shots at the second and 6th to start the event with a the front-nine 34 and, although he bogeyed 10, there have been birdies at the subsequent  holes to maintain him inside touching distance.

A scrappy final hole regarded to have slowed the sector range 3’s momentum, but he holed fantastically from the sand to assert a fifth birdie of the day and cut the deficit.

“I knew I ought to get it close,” he stated when asked about his final shot of the day. “It turned into an advantage to peer it cross in.

“I’m very near [to top form], I hit quite a few suitable shots on the route nowadays but not as many as in my heat-up.

“My ball hanging to the inexperienced has been accurate all 12 months, with my putter every so often protecting me again, but I putted properly today which bodes well for the subsequent three days.”

he is joined on 4 beneath with the aid of gambling partner – and closest Race to Dubai rival Danny Willett after he also birdied the closing, the Englishman playing a sensational method after a wayward tee shot.

Branden Grace another contender to finish top of the ecu tour’s order of merit on Sunday also carded a sixty nine on the first day in Dubai, however all three guys trail by two.

Five birdies in his commencing six holes thrust Grace into competition at the Jumeirah golfing Estates, but a bogey at the 18th – having despatched his tee shot into the water saw him slip lower back to 4 underneath par.

Martin Kaymer is one in every of four players on the pinnacle of the leaderboard after carding a sixty six on Thursday, the quartet tied together on six underneath.

Along the German are Marcus Fraser, Andy Sullivan and Ian Poulter, the latter enjoying an blunders-unfastened round with six birdies break up equally between the back and front nine.

Francesco Molinari sits between the leaders and McIlroy’s 8-guy group after a sixty seven, with the Italian amassing momentum on the again nine to produce a stable spherical.