Rory McIlroy battles to 69, Shane Lowry fires 67 to stay in contention at DP World Tour Championship

Nicolai Hojgaard leads the tournament on 12-under.

Rory McIlroy led the Race to Dubai standings by 767 points from Marco Penge heading into the DP World Tour Championship. Pic: AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are both tied for second on nine-under following their second rounds at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. They are three shots behind leader Nicolai Hojgaard.

McIlroy - the Race to Dubai leader - shot a three-under 69 on Friday. The world number two's game didn't flow to the same degree as it had for Thursday's 66. 

"I had to battle a little more today than I did yesterday," said McIlroy, who carded six birdies and three bogeys.

"The conditions were slightly tougher, as well. If you looked at the scoring yesterday compared to today, it is a little bit tougher. I missed a couple more fairways today. And when I did miss the fairways, I got some really bad lies - like the worst lies I've seen this week.

"I didn't even get it back on to the fairway at the last and had to scramble there. But I felt like I showed my scoring skills today, and battled well and stayed patient, and got the ball up-and-down when I needed to. To shoot 69, I'm pretty pleased considering some of the spots that I found myself.

"The one thing I did very well today, when I made a bogey, I bounced back straightaway with a birdie which was nice."

Lowry went one better than he had on Thursday, adding a 67 to his 68 from the opening round.

"Just pretty solid to be honest," said Lowry.

"I got off to a great start both days. Like middle of the round, I didn't make much happen the last two days.

"But felt like I just plodded my way around the course well, and played my game around here. It's easy to get into trying to hit it hard and long off certain tee shots. But I just played my own game, put it in position."

Lowry felt he made "a few stupid errors" at last week's HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship at which he finished tied for 12th, six shots behind Aaron Rai and Tommy Fleetwood. Rai eventually claimed victory in a play-off against his fellow Englishman. 

"I'm not sure whether it's a mental thing, or just being a little bit better where I miss my second shots where I get out of trouble," said Lowry.

"But I certainly made a few too many silly mistakes... the likes of last Friday afternoon, I bogeyed 17 and 18, and Tommy made par, birdie or something, and so therefore, I give him three shots.

"It's hard to give someone of Tommy Fleetwood's calibre three shots and gifted him kind of a couple bogeys, even though it's only Friday afternoon, I knew I was going to have to finish ahead of Tommy Fleetwood last week.

"This week, I've been good. I've only made one bogey in two days, which is nice. I was in position on 14 and 18 to make birdies. Would have been nice to make at least one of them but I'm in a nice position going into the weekend. I'm pretty happy."