Roaring on at Dubai Desert Classic

Dubai: Former champions Rory McIlroy and Thomas Bjorn shared the mid-way lead at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic after identical rounds of 66 and 65 to leave them 13 under par after round two.

McIlroy struck three birdies on the front nine and four on the back yesterday, while Bjorn hit two on the front and five on his way home to draw level at the top of the leaderboard.

Day one's leader Rafael Cabrera-Bello missed an easy par putt on the 18th which denied him a place alongside the top two.

Tied for fourth on 11 under par 133 are Martin Kaymer (66, 67), Gregory Bourdy (66, 67) and Scott Jamieson (65, 68). Meanwhile, Marcel Siem has dropped from second after round one to tied seventh with Lee Westwood and Stephen Gallacher on 10 under.

Prominent casualties

Famous names that didn't make the cut include Jose Maria Olazabal (one over par) and Anders Hansen (two over).

McIlroy, who missed putts for an eagle on 18 and a birdie on the first, said: "With my consistency, I feel like every time I go out now I have a chance to win.

"This was very stress-free golf — fairways most of the time, a lot of greens and giving myself a lot of looks. Overall I'm very pleased with how I played and I'm looking forward to the weekend.

"This is the fourth year in a row that I've probably been leading [or top five] going into the weekend [at this event]. It just depends what the weather throws up. The last couple of years it's been windy on the weekend and [my] scoring hasn't been great."

Bjorn added: "Anybody who sits up on that leaderboard has got a chance — that's the name of the game. But there's two rounds to go, nothing is done yet. You've got to get out there and play your stuff tomorrow and present yourself with a chance come Sunday on the back nine.

"There's a long way to go to that. There's 27 holes before it gets really tough and the tournament gets decided. So I've just got to go out and continue playing well. There's nobody on the leaderboard that's going to back down."

Ready to make amends

Day one leader Cabrera-Bello said: "A bit more luck on the greens tomorrow and I think I can be back in the top.

"I had one bad hole where I made bogey and the rest was just a few putts. The putts were not dropping. So hopefully tomorrow I can get the putter hot again and try to look for good, straight birdies again.

"I'm just excited that on a few weeks I can perform as good as they can [the world's top golfers]. That's exciting but tomorrow I'm going to forget who's up there and just focus on myself and my task."