Rory McIlroy’s hard charge up the leaderboard at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship came to a screeching halt on Friday.
—
RoryMcIlroy’shardchargeuptheleaderboardattheAbuDhabiHSBCChampionshipcametoascreechinghaltonFriday.
Sevenunderforthedayashestoodontheteeofthepar-317th,McIlroyhitwhathethoughtwasacrisp5-ironthathitthedownslopeonthegreenandranintotherightgreensidebunker.Itappearedlikeastraightforwardbunkershot,butMcIlroysplashedoutandwassurprisedatthelackofsandundertheball,hisshotsailingpasttheflagandrunningthroughthegreen,overthebackandintoanotherbunker,thistimewithhisballsettlingnearthebackedge,onadownslope.Hewalkedoffwithatriple-bogey6.
Evenwithabounce-backbirdieonthelast,McIlroysettledforanother67andnowfindshimselfnineshotsofftheleadatthehalfwaypointinAbuDhabi.
“Ijusthavetogoouttomorrowandtrytogetofftoafaststartandgetmyselfbackintoit,”hesaid.
Still,it’sbeenanencouragingperformanceforMcIlroy,whoismakinghisfirststartinamonthandhasbeenworkinghardonafewswingchanges.Thoughhesaidhemissedmoresho
