Abu Dhabi: Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Craig Lee of Scotland shared the lead at the half-way mark at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship following the second round yesterday.

Cabrera-Bello was alone atop the leaderboard but a final-hole bogey saw him finish the round with a 68, while Lee, who started the day at four-under, shot a 67 to go nine-under-par for the tournament.

“It’s been 12 birdies and three bogeys but I’m playing well, putting good and hitting the fairways, so I’m feeling confident. There is nothing that I’m complaining about at the moment,” said an elated Cabrera-Bello.

Lee was also thrilled with the way he was putting, saying: “I think Santa has bought me a good putting stroke for Christmas. I don’t know what’s happening out there but I’m holing a lot of putts and that’s definitely the difference.”

One stroke behind the leaders was Danny Willett, who shot up the ladder with seven birdies and an eagle at the par-five eighth. With his sublime form, he produced a stunning 63 for the day, one stroke away from equalling the course record set by Henrik Stenson in 2006.

“I’ve not done a massive amount different. Yesterday [Thursday] I was bit on an off, played pretty good but you miss a fairway by two or three yards and you get a bad line and you have no way to get to some of these greens,” the Englishman said.

McIlroy keeps up

Former world No.1 Rory McIlroy also made tremendous progress and was just two strokes behind the leaders. The Ulsterman was tied at seven-under with Thomas Bjorn and Ricardo Gonzalez. “I’m really happy,” the two-time Major winner said. “I got off to a slowish start. I was one-under through five, which was pretty good, and then just hit a bad tee shot on six and made a double-bogey. Then I got back on even par after the ninth and gave myself a target of four-under on back nine. I managed to go one better.”

Joost Luiten, George Coetzee and Tommy Fleetwood were another stroke behind.

Phil Mickelson was one-under, while overnight leaders England’s Matthew Baldwin and Romain Wattel of France failed to carry on their good work, carding rounds of 73 and 75 respectively.

Mickelson said: “I had a much better round. I had a very good practice session and hit my irons a lot better. I’m really glad I made the cut and have a chance on these next two days. The swing started to feel much better and I really need these two days to get my game sharp to start the year.”

India’s Jeev Milkha Singh, who started the day on three-under, couldn’t improve on his showing and had to settle for par. Singh’s compatriots, Shiv Kapur and Gaganjeet Bullar, also made the cut. Those going home early included 2012 champion Robert Rock, three-time Major champion Padraig Harrington, former Open winner Paul Lawrie and Ross Fisher.

The bigwigs who are going home early included 2012 champion Robert Rock, three-time Major champion Padraig Harrington, former Open winner Paul Lawrie and Ross Fisher.