Golf in Dubai Championship: Sully stays strong at the top

Dubai - The Englishman, who had shot a sparkling 11-under on the first day, came up with a six-under that included an eagle, to end the day on 17-under 127

It was not as excellent as the opening day when he tore up the golf course, but it was just as good as Andy Sullivan still had a measure of the Fire Course, to consolidate his lead in the inaugural Golf in Dubai Championship on Thursday.

The Englishman, who had shot a sparkling 11-under on the first day, came up with a six-under that included an eagle, to end the day on 17-under 127 at the Jumeirah Golf Estates.

The world No.72, who had five birdies and a bogey in his round, holds a three-stroke lead over countrymen Matt Wallace and Ross Fisher, who had held the halfway clubhouse lead after carding a five-under for the day.

The pair are on 14-under, while the trio of German Matt Schmitt, Frenchman Antoine Rozner and Scotsman Craig Howie are tied for fourth, five-shots adrift of the leader at 12-under.

Englishman Danny Willett, the 2016 Masters champion, shot an identical five-under 67 as the first day to be tied 13th along with seven others at 10-under.

Two-time Major champion Martin Kaymer had a bit of a testing day at the course, as he endured a double-bogey on his return journey. But the three birdies ensured that the German had a one-under and an overall seven-under to be tied 34th.

The cut was applied at three-under and 35 golfers missed the cut. UAE’s No.1 Ahmed Skaik, playing in only his second European Tour event, carded a five-over to finish at nine-over for the tournament.

The other Arab golfer, Egypt’s El Ela Abou had a one-over to go with his six-over on the opening day to end the event at seven-over.

India’s Shiv Kapur came agonisingly close to making the cut after he had rolled in three birdies on his front nine, after teeing off from 10. But two bogeys on the first and eighth that sandwiched a birdie on the 446-yard par-four fourth, put paid to his hopes. He ended up finishing with two-under for the day and for the tournament after he had shot par in the opening round.

Teeing off from one, Sullivan began with a birdie but went on to bogey the par-4 452-yard third. But he bounced back with a birdie on the fourth and then went on to shoot an eagle on the 555-yard par-5 seventh.

He then rolled in back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th and finished with another on the par-4 17th.

“It was basically just to stay patient and give ourselves as many chances as possible,” Sullivan said after his round.

“It is hard, as much as I had to work hard at staying patient today (Thursday), when I was three under through nine it didn’t feel as good as yesterday (Wednesday),” he added.

Nonetheless, Sullivan was delighted with the low scores in the first two rounds.

“You know you are still on the right track. I knew I was swinging it well and I knew if I kept giving myself opportunities, I could make a few coming in. If you told me I would shoot 61-66, I would have snapped your hand off,” said Sullivan.

“It sounds cliche but I just stuck to my process of what I could do. It was the only thing I can control out there and it’s been working. I feel like I have the golf ball in some sort of control at the moment. It just feels really comfortable out there,” added the 34-year-old.

England’s Steven Brown fired 63, the lowest score of the day. The 30-year-old had nine birdies and a bogey in his round.

The lead group of Sullivan, Wallace and Fisher will tee off from the first at 10.05 a.m.

james@khaleejtimes.com