Andy Sullivan remained the man to catch as he targeted a second low-scoring victory of the season in the Golf in Dubai Championship.
Sullivan added a second round of 66 to his opening 61 at Jumeirah Golf Estates for a halfway total of 17 under par, one shot off the European Tour record set by four-time major winner Ernie Els in the 2004 Heineken Classic.
That gave Sullivan, who shot 27 under par to win the English Championship in August, a three-shot lead over fellow Englishmen Matt Wallace and Ross Fisher, with Scotland’s Craig Howie, France’s Antoine Rozner and Germany’s Max Schmitt on 12 under.
“If you can ever say this, I feel like I’ve got the golf ball under some sort of control at the moment,” Sullivan said after a round containing an eagle, five birdies and a solitary bogey.
“I feel like I know what shapes I can hit, how much I can move it and it just feels really comfortable out there off the tee and into the greens. There’s not many pins I can’t get at at the moment, which is a nice feeling to have. It doesn’t happen too often in the season.”
Sullivan admitted he was aware of the supposed difficulty in following one low score with another, adding: “I spoke about it to my psychologist Lee Crombleholme before I went out. It was basically just to stay patient and try to give myself as many chances as possible.
“It is hard because when I was three under through nine it didn’t feel as good as yesterday, but you know you’re still on the right track. I knew I was swinging it well and if I could keep giving myself opportunities I could make a few coming in.”
Wallace was similarly patient after playing his first six holes in one over par, the 30-year-old responding with an eagle on the par-five seventh and four birdies to return a 67.
“Very happy,” Wallace said. “I’m showing myself a lot of new things of staying patient and knowing that my game is good enough to make some birdies. I didn’t play well for two holes, pretty much, but stuck at it and played the rest quite nice.
“I just kept saying to myself I shot nine under yesterday, I’m playing some good stuff. I’m allowed to play bad, I’m allowed to hit bad shots, but what I’m not allowed to do is get down on myself about it and move on. I’m in a good place.”
Howie suffered a nightmare first round in the United Arab Emirates when he carded a 94 as an amateur in Abu Dhabi in 2013, but the 26-year-old continued to enjoy a far more enjoyable experience by adding a 68 to his opening 64.
Ireland's Niall Kearney hit seven birdies in a five-under par round of 67 to leave him six under par overall. Gavin Moynihan missed the weekend cut.
Collated second round scores and totals
127 Andy Sullivan 61 66
130 Matt Wallace 63 67, Ross Fisher 63 67
132 Craig Howie 64 68, Max Schmitt (Ger) 68 64, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 63 69
133 Steven Brown 70 63, Lorenzo Scalise (Ita) 65 68, John Axelsen (Den) 66 67, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 69 64, Oscar Lengden (Swe) 64 69, Renato Paratore (Ita) 68 65
134 Niklas Lemke (Swe) 66 68, Danny Willett 67 67, Grant Forrest 66 68, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 65 69, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 65 69, Marc Warren 64 70, Robert Macintyre 66 68, Sean Crocker (USA) 68 66
135 Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 66, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 67 68, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 66 69, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 68 67, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 67 68
136 Paul Waring 68 68, Damien Perrier (Fra) 67 69, Callum Shinkwin 68 68, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 66 70, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 67 69, Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 67 69, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 68 68, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 70 66
137 Nicolai Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 70 67, Marcus Armitage 68 69, Ben Evans 71 66, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 66 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 66 71, Emilio Cuartero Blanco (Spa) 69 68, Romain Wattel (Fra) 71 66, Jack Senior 68 69, Jordan Smith 69 68
138 Joel Stalter (Fra) 70 68, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 68 70, Clement Sordet (Fra) 68 70, David Horsey 71 67, Pep Angles (Spa) 65 73, Hurly Long (Ger) 70 68, Wil Besseling (Ned) 73 65, Sam Horsfield 68 70, Stephen Gallacher 69 69, Niall Kearney (Irl) 71 67, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 70 68, Eddie Pepperell 69 69, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 70 68
139 Haotong Li (Chn) 67 72, Mathiam Keyser (Rsa) 70 69, Jordan Wrisdale 72 67, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 67, James Morrison 67 72, Aaron Rai 70 69
140 Robert Rock 70 70, Steven Tiley 69 71, Thomas Detry (Bel) 68 72
141 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 69 72, Matthew Jordan 73 68, Euan Walker 71 70, Andrew Wilson 74 67, Matthew Baldwin 71 70, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 69 72, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 73 68, Ewan Ferguson 72 69
CUT
142 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 70, Nicholas Fung (Mal) 71 71, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 70, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 75 67, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 70 72, Niklas Norgaard Moller (Den) 73 69
143 Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 70 73, Gary Stal (Fra) 69 74, Daniel Gavins 73 70, Oliver Fisher 72 71, Jeff Winther (Den) 72 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 70 73, Dave Coupland 70 73, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 73 70, Alexander Levy (Fra) 72 71
144 Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 74 70, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 72 72, Gavin Green (Mal) 74 70, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) 73 71, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 72 72
145 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 75, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 73 72, Daniel Young 72 73, Robin Petersson (Swe) 70 75, Lee Slattery 75 70
146 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 73 73, Scott Hend (Aus) 75 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 75 71
147 Nino Bertasio (Ita) 73 74
148 Adri Arnaus (Spa) 73 75, Liam Johnston 73 75
151 Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 77 74, Issa Abou El Ela (Egy) 78 73
152 Chris Wood 77 75
153 Ahmed Skaik (Are) 76 77
