DP World Tour Championship - Day two digest

Everything you need to know from Friday's play at the final Rolex Series event of the season.

Nicolai Højgaard finds comfort on the Earth Course, local resident Tommy Fleetwood sees lengthy run come to an end and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen chases the ace.

Everything you need to know from Friday's play at the final Rolex Series event of the season.

Højgaard at home in Dubai

Nicolai Højgaard certainly feels comfortable at Jumeirah Golf Estates after surging into a three-shot lead in Dubai. The Dane came fourth on his debut in 2021 and lifted the trophy two years later thanks to a superb 64 in the final round. He was in similar vain on Friday as he carded an eagle and five birdies in a flawless 65 - the lowest round of the week so far - to climb to 12 under par. The 24-year-old said: "It's great to be back, it's one of my favourite tournaments and courses to play. I stayed really patient again. Yesterday was a really good round and I feel that I actually played a little bit better today. It's just staying patient. There are plenty of chances out there, but it's easy to make a silly bogey out of being too aggressive so trying to navigate my way around there a little bit. Staying patient has been the highlight so far."

A game of two rounds?

Haotong Li opened his tournament with a two-over 74, but he bounced back with a birdie blitz on the front nine. The Chinese star started Friday's round with a hat-trick of birdies from the first before adding two more from the seventh to reach the turn in 31. He dropped his only shot at the 16th, but eagled the last to card a superb 66 and sit at four under.

Flawless Fleetwood continues hot form

Tommy Fleetwood has been in ultra-consistent in recent weeks and his scoring has been even more impressive than his results. After winning his maiden PGA TOUR title at the TOUR Championship in August and helping Team Europe retain the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, he won the inaugural DP World India Championship last month before losing out to Aaron Rai in a play-off in last week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. However, he headed into the second round on the Earth Course having carded just one bogey in his last 106 holes, and extended that run by another 11 holes before finally dropping a shot. The streak included the Englishman going 68 consecutive holes without a bogey - stretching back to the 15th hole in the second round in Abu Dhabi - before giving up a stroke at he 12th on Friday. Just remarkable! Fleetwood is four off the lead at eight under after a second-round 71, which saw him briefly take the lead after this huge eagle at the second.

Neergaard-Petersen chases the ace at 13

The number 13 is unlucky for some people, and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen may believe this is true after a magical tee-shot into the par-three hole. He was inches from a slam dunk hole-in-one.

That near ace saw the Dane catapult into contention as he backed up that tap-in birdie with an eagle at the 14th and a gain at the 15th to sit one shot behind Højgaard during the closing stages of the second round.

Rory rips one down the middle

There is always a reason to watch Rory McIlroy stripe a tee-shot a casual 397 yards. Enjoy!