– Tommy Fleetwood (-14) and Aaron Rai (-14) are the leaders of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after the second round, having delivered scorecards of 66 and 64 strokes, respectively. The two Englishmen have based their good records on a great start to the round, each in their own way…
– Each in their own way, indeed. Rai’s is surely the most unusual, as he signed an albatross on the 2nd hole, holing out from 195 metres away. Fleetwood, on the other hand, strung together three birdies in the first three holes of a Yas Links Golf Club that is being battered. For example, scores of 69 strokes, three under par for the day, have barely helped anyone move up the leaderboard. The result of 68 hasn’t fared much better either. For now, unless proven otherwise or the wind really picks up in the capital of the Emirates, this week you need to go five under par to even glimpse the top ten.
– Although it may not seem like it, it’s been a long time since Aaron Rai earned the right to be considered one of the best players in the world. It’s true that he’s not a relentless winner (only three victories in the major tours in the last eight years), but his consistency deserves all the credit. Surely more than one person is surprised (just like the undersigned), but he’s been comfortably in the top 30 in the world and around for more than a year and a half. He’s only thirty years old and in no rush, so it will be interesting to see if he can really continue to improve year after year, as he has practically done so far since turning professional. It always seems like he’s hit his ceiling, but he never quite reaches it, always finding a new margin for improvement.
– Fleetwood is something else today. If he wins this week, he would almost certainly conquer the World Number 3, just behind Scheffler and McIlroy. Big words. Tommy has always operated on a higher dimension than Rai, as it is, but he is also a player who has been simmering slowly. Tomorrow, they will both form a stellar match tempered like few others. Additionally, the trio is completed by the revived Richard Sterne (-12), another composed type.
– Rory McIlroy (-8) is not super and his two rounds of 68 strokes are leaving him somewhat adrift. But there are 36 holes left, and that’s too many to rule him out. It would be unusual for the Northern Irishman not to find a gear change over the weekend. Surely he’s already doing some calculations: if I make a fourteen-under-par on Saturday and Sunday, I’ll still give myself a chance to win. That’s certainly the way it could go. The same calculations apply to Marco Penge (-9), who has maintained a nice duel of hitters with Rory in these first two rounds, playing in the same match. The result of the contest can be considered a draw, by the way.
– We have two Spanish players well placed, Nacho Elvira (-11) and Alejandro del Rey (-11). The former maintains the good form from Korea, where he finished second. And the latter, with this move, is earning the right to enter the Dubai Final. Now the Madrid native has to finish the job, and putting as he did today, everything becomes easier. He sank eight birdie putts, most from medium and long distances, although he still left behind six other chances from distances under six metres. The best news, in any case, was his bogey-free round: when Del Rey manages to avoid big mistakes, he usually becomes a main contender, no doubt.
