Justin Rose still in touch with Rory McIlroy for Race to Dubai after Jumeirah second round
Justin Rose kept his hopes of winning the Race to Dubai alive on Friday as Ryder Cup partner Henrik Stenson admitted his chances of a third straight victory in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai had disappeared.
Stenson birdied seven of his last 12 holes to shoot a second round of 69 at Jumeirah Golf Estates, but knew the damage had been done by an opening 77, his worst score by four shots in the European Tour’s season finale.
In contrast, Rose added a 66 to his opening 71 to finish seven under par alongside Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, just one shot behind early clubhouse leader Charl Schwartzel after the former Masters champion matched Wiesberger’s flawless 65.
“I’m obviously anticipating being four, five (shots) back potentially, but at least that’s not eight or nine,” said Rose, who needs to finish second to have a chance of overtaking current Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy.
“If you’re four or five back, you still feel like you’re in it. Whoever wins the tournament is going to have to play great golf over the weekend but at least I’m in a position where great golf will get rewarded.”
Stenson had other priorities after ending the day on two over and admitting he was lacking mental focus at the end of a long year, which will finally come to an end in South Africa in a fortnight before the 39-year-old undergoes a minor knee operation in December.
“We just tried to be finished very quickly so we could go and see the family that I haven’t seen in a month,” Stenson joked. “It was all tactics really, to shoot a bad score yesterday, be out first this morning and then I can spend the afternoon at the Atlantis with the kids.
“My putting was better today, there were some highlights with the striking too so we’ll try and finish with some good scores and hopefully we can start off next season in two weeks’ time with a good tournament in South Africa and then we pack it in for the year.
“The course is much softer than we’ve seen before unfortunately in terms of what I prefer. I would have liked the greens a lot firmer because with these ridges, to be able to feed them to the holes you need a little bit of firmness on the greens.
“On my own state of mind, it hasn’t really been to where it needs to perform at my highest level. I can’t blame any physical (problems), it’s more the soft parts in the body that’s not really where they need to be.
“You have to have your mind in the right place if you’re going to compete with the best and it hasn’t really been there.”
McIlroy has a lead of just 1,613 points over Danny Willett in the battle to become European number one and the pair, who both shot 68 on Thursday, remained locked together on six under after 10 holes.
