Rory McIlroy miles off the pace at halfway stage of Dubai Desert Classic

American Cameron Young will take a three-shot lead into the weekend at the Dubai Desert Classic as defending champion Rory McIlroy fell way off the pace.

Ben Smith

19 Jan 2024

Rory McIlroy miles off the pace at halfway stage of Dubai Desert Classic

American Cameron Young will take a three-shot lead into the weekend at the Dubai Desert Classic as defending champion Rory McIlroy fell way off the pace.

Young carded an opening round of 67 at Emirates Golf Club and added a second round of 8-under 64 to reach 13-under.

England's Andy Sullivan and Poland's Adrian Meronk - who defeated McIlroy to the player of the year title - are third on 10-under.

McIlroy is seeking a record fourth win in this event but it looks as though he will be made to wait for another crack next year.

The Northern Irishman made five birdies and three bogeys in his second round of 70 which saw him 10 strokes off the lead on 3-under.

Young is yet to win on the PGA or DP World Tour but he was superb on Friday, carding nine birdies and one solitary bogey at the ninth hole after hitting his second shot into the water.

Back-to-back 181 mph drives from Cam Young #DubaiDesertClassic | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/6vroGeHzyI
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 19, 2024

What they said...

Cameron Young:

"I putted fantastic. I made a couple long ones yesterday and then made a few more today that those had no right going in I feel like.

"I hit a bunch of good putts but just one of those days where you kind of have a couple 30-footers and you look up and they are going right in the middle, which doesn't happen all that often to have a bunch of them in one round.

"But [I played] really nicely and putted great."

Adrian Meronk:

"Overall, solid game. The it was tricky out there. The course got firmer and firmer. Greens were fast.

"Yeah, [I was] just playing really solid from tee-to-green. I holed a lot of good putts, a couple good saves."

Andy Sullivan:

"I didn't think I would ever be coming off disappointed sitting at 10-under after two rounds, but after that start today, I just got literally picked up where I left off yesterday and hit a lot of golf shots to sort of ten, 15 feet [and] rolled it lovely."

Leaderboard after 36 holes:

C. Young -13

A. Sullivan, A. Meronk -10

R. Ramsay, N. Hojgaard, R. Hojgaard -7

L. De Jager, A. Cockerill, M. Lorenzo-Vera, T. Olesen, Z. Lombard, M. Kawamura, H. Li, R. Mansell -6

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