Henrik Stenson continued his dominance at the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates as his 11th consecutive sub-70 round gave him a two-shot lead on Friday halfway through the DP World Tour Championship.
The Swede shot a six-under-par 66 in the second round to be 10-under 134 after 36 holes of the $US8 million ($A8.65 million) event.
Overnight joint leader and world No.1 Rory McIlroy was among three players at eight-under 136.
The Northern Irishman struggled at times and then hit his tee shot into the water hazard on the 18th hole in his round of two-under 70.
Also at 136 were Scotland’s Rishi Ramsay (69) and England’s Danny Willett (67).
Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello shot the lowest round of the day – an eight-under 64 – to join Ireland’s Shane Lowry (71), the overnight leader alongside McIlroy, England’s Justin Rose (66), Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg (67) and Denmark’s Olesen (70) at tied fifth at 137.
Stenson, who won the tournament last year with a record tally of 25-under par, made just one mistake early in his round, when he dropped a shot on the long par-3 fourth hole, but putted beautifully to make amends with seven birdies, including a two-putt birdie from 80-feet on the final hole.
The 38-year-old has played a total 18 rounds in the tournament so far (he did not qualify in 2011) and has 17 sub-par rounds. His worst score is a 73 in the final round of the 2010 edition.
Stenson said: “I just came in knowing that I have got a good gameplan to play this golf course and I’m trying to stick to that one. So far, so good. I am not making any changes really and hopefully I keep on producing birdies.
“I was hitting it all right, but I was good on the greens today. Made some nice putts all day long and that really helps. The one I made on 16 and the one on 18, were nice. It was a pretty solid round of golf but, more than anything, it was made up on the greens.”
McIlroy started with a birdie, but then did not make another until the 14th hole. In between, on the par-5 seventh, he hit an embarrassing second shot with a five-wood – a fat, ugly duckhook.
“I guess I wasn’t really hitting it close enough and then, when I did give myself some opportunities, I didn’t make them. I just found it hard to sort of get any momentum going out there.
“The birdies on 14 and 15 were really nice, and then to give them away easily with a three-putt on 16 was frustrating. To bounce back on 17 was good, and it would have been nice to birdie the last but, after where I hit my tee shot, I’ll settle for a par.”
Australian Wade Ormsby is on even-par 144 – 10 shots behind leader Stenson – after rounds of 73 and 71.
