Quiros thanks Olazabal for his putting success

Dubai - Ironically, Quiros's second round started with a bogey on Friday

Former Dubai Desert Classic champion Alvaro Quiros of Spain revealed compatriot Jose Maria Olazabal, the two-time Major winner, was the reason behind his putting success on Friday at the iconic Majlis course.
The 2011 Dubai champion was in fine form as he ended the second round of this year's event with 64 (11 under), giving him a share of the third place on the leaderboard with South African giant Ernie Els.
Quiros, the 36-year-old Spaniard, and the 50-year-old Els were trailing joint-leaders Lucas Herbert of Australia and American Bryson Dechambeau (12 under) by one stroke. The highlight of Quiros's second round performance on Friday was his nine birdies. "It was nice. My putting level has been great today, even when I skipped two or three short putts," he said.
"Well, I've been working a lot with José María, with Ollie, and with my coach, José Rivero. It looks like it's paying off. Last week I was putting nicely, too, so it's probably, even with these grainy greens, it's the key," he added.
Ironically, Quiros's second round started with a bogey on Friday. "Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to relax in the full day. But really, you can have some accidents in these bunkers," he said.
"The sand is very heavy, and I find out the bunker from the tee shot. The ball was completely in mud, so it was unfortunately an unlucky lie. And from there on, I've been keeping up, playing nicely, holing putts, obviously, and I've been lucky sometimes," Quiros, who will be looking to win his first title since May 2017, said.
The Spaniard says he needs to keep shooting low scores to have any chance of lifting the coveted Dubai trophy for the second time in his career. "Obviously I have to recognise that the golf course setup is a completely different thing. Around the greens we don't have any more heavy stuff as we used to have, and at the end, the wind intensity is what is going to change the direction of this course," he said.