Nicolai Hojgaard will start moving day at the DP World Tour Championship with a three-stroke lead over a group including Rory McIlroy as he bids to reclaim the season-ending title.
The Dane shot a seven-under 65 to move to 12-under at the end of Round 2 at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
McIlroy is in a group of five players on nine-under, which includes his Ryder Cup teammates Shane Lowry and Justin Rose, as well as Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Daniel Hillier.
Hojgaard won the championship two years ago, while his brother Rasmus was runner-up to McIlroy 12 months back.
“It's great to be back,” Hojgaard said. “It's one of my favourite tournaments and favourite courses to play.
“It's good to be back this year in a little bit of form, so I am just happy to be here.”
Hojgaard said he feels the Earth Course fits his game. “You talk about golf course that suits your eye, and I really like it off the tee,” he said.
“I feel like it's a position golf course as well. It's a mix of driver down to 4-iron. And it plays into my strength, which is mid-irons. It's just a really good fit for me.”
The scoring onslaught was not as dramatic as it had been on Thursday’s opening day. Tommy Fleetwood had a rare round in the 70s, as he carded an eagle, a bogey, and 16 pars.
Overnight leader Michael Kim followed his opening day round of eight-under with an erratic, four-over-par 76.
Even the three-time champion McIlroy was relatively becalmed, although he said he was pleased with how he battled for his score of 69.
“I missed a couple more fairways today, and when I did miss the fairways, I got some really bad lies, like the worst lies I've seen this week,” McIlroy said.
“I didn't even get it back on to the fairway at the last and had to scramble there. But I felt like I showed my scoring skills today, battled well and stayed patient, and got the ball up-and-down when I needed to.
“Overall to shoot 69, I'm pretty pleased considering some of the spots that I found myself.”
While he faces a battle to retain his Tour Championship title, a seventh Race to Dubai title – and fourth in a row – is all but assured.
His lead at the top of the standings is all but unassailable given his closest competitor, Marco Penge, has struggled over the opening two days of the season’s finale.
The Englishman made a two-under in his second round, advancing his score to level par for the tournament. That leaves him nine shots, and 42 places, behind McIlroy.
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
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Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
The five pillars of Islam
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
