Antoine Rozner moves into lead with flawless round

Antoine Rozner had a trying first round, making three bogeys and a double bogey by the 12th, but closed with four consecutive birdies. He carried that play over to the second round and signed for the lowest round of the week at Jumeirah Golf Estates, a bogey-free 65, to reach 9-under and take a one-shot lead at the DP World Tour Championship.

“Just no mistakes. Of course, I putted really well,” said the Frenchman. “It’s one of those days where everything goes in and I had a ton of fun out there.

“I think with my caddy [Patxi Londaitz] we had really good fun, and yeah, it was one of those days where everything goes right and took advantage of it. It was a lot of fun.

“I just think the confidence clicked and everything is going the right way. We’re doing a really good job with my caddy as well.

“It’s key and the margins are very small in this game. So sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. Today was one of them.

“I’m going to try to focus on having two solid days and see how it goes at the end. I think if I can have a chance on Sunday to either win it or get one of those cards, yeah, it would be great.”

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and England’s Tyrrell Hatton who held the overnight lead both signed for 69s and moved down into a share of second place at 8-under.

Chilean Joaquin Niemann made an eagle at the par-5 2nd and carded a 67 to move into solo fourth place at 7-under one ahead of a group of four players in fifth place including Ireland’s Shane Lowry who closed with a 67.

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