England’s Paul Waring recorded a course-record 61 in the second round of the HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship, opening up a commanding lead at the halfway point.
Waring holed his second shot at the sixth from 119 yards for an eagle and also recorded nine birdies to reach 19 under par in pursuit of his second DP World Tour title at Yas Links.
That gave the 39-year-old a five-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen, Johannes Veerman and Niklas Norgaard, with Rory McIlroy nine shots behind after a costly triple bogey on the 17th.
Waring ended his round in spectacular fashion at the par-five 18th, hitting his third shot from 265 yards to within three feet of the pin after having to back up onto the fairway following a wayward drive.
“It was the best shot I’ve ever made in my life, to be honest,” Waring said.
“The tee shot on 18 was a little special for me because I had been hitting it well all day, so even above those three woods, I felt like I could hit a solid shot in a part of the green and just hit a short draw.
“In all honesty, I’m just trying to keep going, keep making birdies. My caddy made the comment a few days ago, we played a bit of golf at Trump in Dubai and we also played the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates and for those two rounds I actually scored 50% birdies.
“We had a little laugh yesterday [Thursday] because I made nine birdies, so it was 50 percent, so he said today, that’s right, every round you have to improve on 50 percent birdies.
“Obviously I feel good, I swing it well. Putter performs well. It is, I would say, a weak point for me from time to time, but I have worked on it a lot and since moving to Dubai I am also very used to this style of greens.
“I have a good lead at the moment but before I even start tomorrow, someone may have caught up with me. So if I want to be involved on Sunday afternoon, I still have to continue like I’m doing.
Fleetwood, who tied the previous course record with a 62 on Thursday, added a 68 as he bids to win in Abu Dhabi for the third time, while McIlroy’s second consecutive 67 was spoiled by a six in the short 17th.
“I played pretty well up until that point and I feel like I hit a nice shot in 17, right after rolling into the bunker,” McIlroy said.
“There wasn’t a lot of sand where the ball was and I just made a mess from there, but I bounced back well to birdie the last one.”
McIlroy came back from 10 shots behind at the halfway point to win in Dubai in January, but admitted: “I need the golf course to tighten up a little bit to have a chance.” There are so many accessible holes.
“I shot 63 this Saturday in Dubai and I’m going to need something similar, if not lower, to give me a chance before Sunday.”