The return to the glory that is Rory McIlroy at his best continued apace at the Dubai Desert Classic, but the surprise was that he didn’t take an unshakeable grip on the event in yesterday’s third round. The day began early for McIlroy as he was left with seven holes of his second round to complete.
At that stage, he trailed Jamie Donaldson, who completed his second round before mist descended on Friday, by three strokes. By the time McIlroy went for his second breakfast, he led the field by two, having made birdies on five of those seven holes.
The expectation was that McIlroy would run away with it. In fact, he stalled with a moderate one-over-par front nine in his third round. That allowed Haotong Li of China to overtake him.
It was the old McIlroy failing, a missed putt from short range, that seemed to unsettle him. That came on the fourth hole and another head-scratching bogey came on the eighth. As a result, McIlroy had conceded five strokes to Li, one of his playing partners, and had tamely given up the lead.
Li, who came third in last year’s Open championship, was especially impressive. Tall and slim, with a serious demeanour and an excellent all-round game, he outscored McIlroy, outplayed him and especially out-putted him.
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Donaldson had a wretched time. Also in McIlroy’s group, he was 11 strokes worse than Li. His opening drive was right, his second left and he never recovered equilibrium. Driving out of bounds on the 10th hardly helped. It was painful to watch, for Donaldson, one of European Tour’s best fellows, seemed to have put a horrible year of injury and poor form behind him when he opened up with a 62.
Li’s 64, four better than McIlroy, left him in the lead at 20 under par. McIlroy, who performed much better over the back nine, is a stroke behind in second place going into today’s final round.
Judging by the way they played the final hole yesterday, it could be quite a tussle. Li smashed a drive across the corner of the dogleg of the 564-yard par-five hole, hit a seven-iron to the heart of the green and took two putts for a tap-in birdie. McIlroy, just off line with his three-wood tee-shot, laid up and made his birdie with an excellent pitch and putt.
The final round should show us that Li is the best player yet to emerge from China, as well as affording another chance to assess McIlroy’s progress. Anything less than a third victory in the event will surely disappoint him.
Alexander Levy, who finished the day in third place, had a most adventurous round. The Frenchman had a hole-in-one, a perfect nine-iron shot, at the fourth hole and made five consecutive birdies from the ninth.
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With an unusually happy view of life and golf, Levy would be a most welcome addition to Europe’s Ryder Cup team come September and with such good fortune and powers of recovery, it was no wonder he was constantly smiling. On the 12th, his drive was a long way left, lying on scrub close to a TV compound. His second was a deliberate hook that somehow found the edge of the green, and he holed a long putt for a ridiculous birdie.
Two bogeys near the end of Levy’s round temporarily removed the smile, but he still shot 65.
Levy’s score should have been better for the back nine on the Emirates course, with three par-five holes, all reachable in two good hits, is much the easier half. Pat Perez of America, for example, started on that nine and completed it in 30 strokes, seven under par. He may have been contemplating a sub-60 round, but he was two over par for the next nine.
Conditions all day were conducive to almost absurdly low scoring, as if the whole field had subscribed to the old Ben Hogan insistence that there is no reason why a player shouldn’t birdie 18 holes out of 18.
With no wind, wide fairways and perfect greens, birdies and eagles proliferated to such an extent that one began to long for the wind and wild country of Carnoustie, the venue for this year’s Open, and a real test. At Dubai, the cut was at five under par. Those at four under par, including Paul Dunne and Matthew Fitzpatrick, did not make it.
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Among those to take advantage was Ian Poulter with a 65. “I feel good about 2018,” he said. “Last year was stressful, but I’m enjoying my golf again. I’ve worked hard on my game and I’ve found some extra length off the tee.”
Poulter’s aim is to get inside the world top 50 (he is currently 58th), earn a place at the US Masters and earn a place in the team for what he called “a little event at the end of the year”.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, in his 30th year on the main European Tour, continued to find desert golf agreeable. With a 69, he was under 70 for the third day running, a testament to his exercise regime, which stresses flexibility rather than strength, as well as the benign effects of the Tempranillo grape.
