Rory McIlroy refused to dwell on a closing double bogey in round two as he headed into the weekend just one shot off the lead at the 2021 DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
The Northern Irishman entered the second day of the season finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates with a two shot lead and stayed top of the leaderboard for most of the afternoon as he searches for a first Rolex Series victory.
He held a one shot advantage stood on the 18th tee but found the water with his third at the par five and a seven saw him sign for a 70 and a nine under total, one shot behind American John Catlin, England's Sam Horsfield and Irishman Shane Lowry.
A victory this week would not only see the 32-year-old add a Rolex Series win to his four Major Championships and three WGC victories, but he would also become the first three time winner of this event.
"I'm playing nicely," he said. "I started well again today and hit a lot of good shots on the front nine. It was sort of a little scrappy around the middle but I was able to hang in there with my short game.
"I hit a nice one on 16 so the good stuff is in there. I still feel like I played well and I feel like 70 is sort of the worst I could have shot today, especially with the finish and hopefully that's the bad one out of the way.
"The third shot (on the last), I hit a really good shot. That part of the fairway where the ball was was quite just sort of thatchy and came up spinny into the wind.
"I hit a good golf shot and felt like I didn't deserve to be in the water and it was a tricky up-and-down from there.
"It wasn't the greatest way to finish and I was just sort of holding it together most of the day. It was a little scrappier than it was yesterday but felt like I was doing OK.
"It would have been nice to finish off a bit better but still right in the golf tournament."
