Zander Lombard overcame three bogeys on his opening nine on Friday to card a three-under-par 68 and move into a share of fourth at the halfway stage of the DP World Tour’s Dubai Invitational at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Lombard moved to seven-under for the tournament, three strokes behind the leader. Rory McIlroy held on to his lead from the first round, despite a quadruple bogey on the par-three eighth. He carded a one-under-par 70 to maintain a one-stroke lead over Germany’s Yannick Paul. Paul was joined by Jeff Winther of Denmark, who had a five-under 66 in the second round.
Lombard bogeyed the 10th, his opening hole, as well as the 12th and 16th. But he made four birdies on his opening nine to turn in one-under, and he picked up two more shots on his homeward nine.
Joining him at seven-under in a share of fourth was Thriston Lawrence, who had a one-under 70 in hi second round. Also in fourth were Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Smith and Thorbjorn Olesen.
Hennie du Plessis and Ockie Strydom each carded one-over 72 to move to level-par and one-over respectively. Du Plessis was in a share of 33rd and Strydom of 38th in the 60-man field.
