Portugal Colonial - 'Battling' McIlroy closes in on Race to Dubai title

McIlroy moved up to tied second place at nine-under par at the halfway stage of the $10 million DP World Tour Championship, three strokes behind leader Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark who fired 65 on day two.

"It was a struggle out there today," admitted McIlroy, who started with a bogey and avoided one on the par-five 18th with a brilliant up-and-down after he had fluffed his second shot from thick rough.

"I had to battle a little more. The conditions were slightly tougher, as well, if you looked at the scoring yesterday compared to today. I missed a couple more fairways today.

"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," continued the Northern Irishman.

"Overall, to shoot 69, I'm pretty pleased considering some of the spots that I found myself."

England's Tyrrell Hatton (67), one of only two players who can stop McIlroy from winning a seventh Order of Merit crown, improved to sit in tied 11th place at seven-under.

But Tyrrell will have to win the tournament and then hope McIlroy finishes outside the top-eight to have a chance.

The other player in contention, England's Marco Penge (70) was way down at tied 44th place.

- Patience pays for Hojgaard -

Hojgaard started birdie-eagle and raced to six-under-par through his front nine, but could pick up only one more shot on the back nine with a birdie on the par-five 14th.

The Dane, winner of the tournament in 2023, put himself in a good position adding a 65 to his opening round 67.

"It's good to be back this year in a little bit of form," said Hojgaard, who failed to qualify last year.

"It's one of my favourite tournaments and favourite courses to play.

"The key was staying really patient again. Yesterday, was a really good round, and I felt like I actually might have played a little bit better today.

"I think the golf course suits my eye. I really like it off the tees. I feel like it's a positional golf course as well. It's a mix of driver down to 4-iron. And it plays into my strength, which is mid-irons."

McIlroy's Ryder Cup-winning teammates Shane Lowry and Justin Rose both shot rounds of 67 to join him in second place, alongside Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (67) of Denmark and Daniel Hillier (68) of New Zealand.

Two other members of the European Ryder Cup team -– Robert MacIntyre (67) and Tommy Fleetwood (71) –- were one shot further behind at eight-under with England's Laurie Canter (68) and Sweden's Alex Noreen (68).

The tournament has the richest purse on the DP World Tour - $10 million – and the top 10 players also get a share of a $6 million bonus pool at the end of the season.

A.P.Maia--PC