Waring cards course-record 61 to surge into Abu Dhabi lead

Move aside, Tommy Fleetwood - there's another Dubai resident shooting the lights out of the breathtaking Yas Links.

While Fleetwood's bogey-free 62 in the opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship was a thing of beauty, his compatriot Paul Waring took it up a notch, carding a spellbinding 11-under-par 61 to set a new course record in today’s second round.

The 39-year-old, whose sole DP World Tour victory came at the 2018 Nordea Masters, made the turn in 31 strokes having added three birdies and one eagle to his scorecard – all of which came between the third and sixth.

He went on a similar streak as soon as he made the turn with four consecutive birdies from the 10th before another birdie at the 16th left him needing to pick up one more shot in his final two holes to set a course record.

After making a par at 17, the 61 looked out of reach when the Englishman went offline with his tee shot on the last.

But Waring recovered brilliantly, chipping from the rough to the fairway, then hitting the shot of the tournament: a fairway wood from over 260 yards to within four feet of the pin.

He calmly tapped in for his ninth birdie of the day, sealing an unforgettable 61 and, more importantly, a five-stroke lead over the chasing pack at the halfway point.

“Well that was the best shot I've ever hit in my life to be honest,” said Waring immediately after his round.

“Yeah, had left myself 262, 265, something like that to the last.

“Again, the tee shot on 18 was a little bit peculiar for me because I had been hitting it great all day.

“So even over that 3-wood I felt like could I hit a solid shot into the part of the green and just hit a little draw. One of the best shots I've hit.”

Not only did Waring set the course record, but his 61 also marked the lowest round of his DP World Tour career and broke the record for the lowest 36-hole score in Tour history, beating the previous mark by a single stroke.

It’s an impressive feat for a player who came into the week ranked 48th in the Race to Dubai, keeping one eye on the standings with only the top 50 players securing a spot in next week’s DP World Tour Championship.

Yet Waring’s ambitions extend well beyond simply qualifying for the season finale - he’s aiming for much more than his fourth career appearance at the event.

“It's very easy to say, yeah, I want to play next week, and I do want to play next week,” said Waring.

“But there are bigger things in my career that I do want to go and do and as I said yesterday, top 25 spots get an Open spot next year, that's something I want to try and achieve and try and get somewhere near a PGA TOUR card.

“I know that's a big ask and going to require a couple of thirds or a couple of seconds or something like that but we are still playing golf at the end of the year. Feel like I'm playing well. Why not have those goals.”

If he were to win this week, Waring is projected to move up to seventh in the Race to Dubai Rankings, which would all but guarantee playing privileges on the PGA Tour, which are given to the leading ten players, not already exempt, on the standings.

Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen Niklas Norgaard and Johannes Veerman will all have something to say about that, with the quartet five strokes behind in a share of second.

Tyrrell Hatton is in a group one shot further back, while World No.3 Rory McIlroy sits in a share of 14th on 10 under par after a triple bogey at the 17th derailed his surge up the leaderboard.

The third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship continues Saturday with Waring, Veerman and Norgaard last off at 11.55am.