Paul Waring fired an eagle at the par-4 6th as well as nine birdies to close with a bogey-free 61 and take a five-shot lead into the weekend at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
This new course-record is also the lowest round of the Englishman’s DP World Tour career. His 19-under halfway total is the lowest in relation to par in DP World Tour history.
“In total honesty I’m just trying to keep going, keep making birdies. My caddie made the remark a few days ago, we played a little bit golf at Trump over in Dubai and we played the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates as well and for those two rounds, I actually had 50 per cent birdies,” said Waring.
“We were having a bit of a laugh yesterday [Thursday] because I had nine birdies so that was 50 per cent, so he said today, right, every round, you’ve got to better 50 per cent birdies.
“Obviously feel great, swinging it great. Putter is behaving. That’s I’d say a weak spot for me now and again but I’ve done a lot of work on it, and since moving over to Dubai I’m very used to these style of greens as well.
“I’ve got a nice lead at the moment but even before I tee off tomorrow, someone might have caught me. So if I’m going to be involved on Sunday afternoon I’ve still got to keep going the way I am.”
Compatriot Tommy Fleetwood who held the overnight lead by one shot after an opening round 62 made two bogeys and closed with a 68. He moved down into a share of second place at 14-under alongside American Johannes Veerman whose 67 featured a bogey and Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard who signed for a bogey-free 65.
Englishmen Laurie Canter (67), Tyrrell Hatton (68) and Matt Wallace (65) are all tied in sixth place at 12-under alongside France’s Ugo Coussaud who carded a bogey-free 64 featuring an eagle at the par-5 2nd.
Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy shot another 67 after a triple-bogey at the par-3 17th and lies in T14 at 10-under.
“There wasn’t a lot of sand where the ball was and I just sort of made a mess of it from there, but bounced back well to birdie the last.”
