Superstar Field at Abu Dhabi This Week

[jhwmusic]

Rory is leaking fluid! Though he will still probably shoot in the 60's

[Zwick]

Roller Coaster Rory today

[bplewis24]

Tiger finally rolls a putt in for birdie from distance, and Rory with a huge putt to avoid his 3rd double bogie for the day.

And just as I post that, Tiger puts one within 4 feet or so on the following par 3.  He can get to -5 and within 2 shots of the lead.

Meanwhile, Luke Donald hasn't really found any sort of rhythm all tournament long but is still steady enough to be within striking distance if he can start hitting some fairways.

Brandon

[bplewis24]

After that last iron shot from the waste area to within 10 feet (and a birdie), apparently Donald doesn't need to find the fairway.

Brandon

[bplewis24]

Tiger isn't simply reading the greens better today, he's also putting a better stroke on the ball.  The pace of the putts appears better and he is stroking them confidently.  It started about 5-6 holes ago, and he's finally started rolling some in.  Now to -6 and one shot off the lead.  His driving today isn't great, but the short game has been pretty good.  Donald still grinding away, while Rory is starting to dial in a bit more.

Sergio with a nice hole-in-one.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Rory, no. Silly boy! 2 shot penalty.

[brocks]

Tiger and Rory both finish at -5. We might get to see them paired again tomorrow.

[Nole77]

What did he do?

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

Rory, no. Silly boy! 2 shot penalty.

[Beachcomber]

End of round two results...

Updated: 1/27/2012 - 9:39 AM - Note: all times are Eastern Time

Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship Leaderboard

• Site: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• Course: 7,590 yards, par 72
• Purse: $2,700,000
• Status: End of the 2nd round

Rank	Player	Today	Thru	To Par	1	2	3	4	Total	Winnings
1	Thorbjorn Olesen	-5	F	-7	70	67			137
T2	Gareth Maybin	-2	F	-6	68	70			138
T2	Matteo Manassero	-7	F	-6	73	65			138
T4	Paul Lawrie	-3	F	-5	70	69			139
T4	Robert Karlsson	E	F	-5	67	72			139
T4	Richard Finch	-1	F	-5	68	71			139
T4	Tiger Woods	-3	F	-5	70	69			139
T4	Jean-Baptiste Gonnet	-1	F	-5	68	71			139
T4	Rory McIlroy	E	F	-5	67	72			139
T4	Robert Rock	-2	F	-5	69	70			139
T11	Charl Schwartzel	-2	F	-4	70	70			140
T11	Richie Ramsay	-1	F	-4	69	71			140
T11	Padraig Harrington	-3	F	-4	71	69			140
T11	Sergio Garcia	-3	F	-4	71	69			140
T11	Jose Manuel Lara	-2	F	-4	70	70			140
T16	James Kingston	-3	F	-3	72	69			141
T16	Wen-Chong Liang	-1	F	-3	70	71			141
T16	Anders Hansen	-2	F	-3	71	70			141
T16	Miguel Angel Jimenez	-3	F	-3	72	69			141
T16	Johan Edfors	-1	F	-3	70	71			141
T16	Graeme McDowell	-3	F	-3	72	69			141
T16	Francesco Molinari	-5	F	-3	74	67			141
T23	Alejandro Canizares	-1	F	-2	71	71			142
T23	Thomas Aiken	-2	F	-2	72	70			142
T23	Jamie Donaldson	-4	F	-2	74	68			142
T23	Oliver Fisher	-1	F	-2	71	71			142
T23	David Drysdale	E	F	-2	70	72			142
T23	Mark Foster	-5	F	-2	75	67			142
T23	Marcus Fraser	-1	F	-2	71	71			142
T23	Keith Horne	-1	F	-2	71	71			142
T23	Joost Luiten	-1	F	-2	71	71			142
T32	Peter Hanson	-3	F	-1	74	69			143
T32	Richard S. Johnson	E	F	-1	71	72			143
T32	Markus Brier	-1	F	-1	72	71			143
T32	George Coetzee	E	F	-1	71	72			143
T32	Romain Wattel	-3	F	-1	74	69			143
T32	Ben Curtis	-1	F	-1	72	71			143
T32	Luke Donald	E	F	-1	71	72			143
T32	Graeme Storm	-3	F	-1	74	69			143
T40	Joel Sjoholm	-1	F	E	73	71			144
T40	Nicolas Colsaerts	+3	F	E	69	75			144
T40	Lee Westwood	E	F	E	72	72			144
T40	Thomas Bjorn	-1	F	E	73	71			144
T40	David Lynn	-2	F	E	74	70			144
T40	Stephen Gallacher	E	F	E	72	72			144
T40	Simon Dyson	E	F	E	72	72			144
T40	Bradley Dredge	-1	F	E	73	71			144
T48	Ross Fisher	E	F	+1	73	72			145
T48	Lorenzo Gagli	+1	F	+1	72	73			145
T48	Ricardo Gonzalez	+1	F	+1	72	73			145
T48	Raphael Jacquelin	+2	F	+1	71	74			145
T48	Soren Hansen	+1	F	+1	72	73			145
T48	David Horsey	-2	F	+1	75	70			145
T48	Jeev Milkha Singh	-2	F	+1	75	70			145
T48	Jaco Van Zyl	-2	F	+1	75	70			145
T48	Anthony Wall	+3	F	+1	70	75			145
T48	Andrea Pavan	E	F	+1	73	72			145
T48	Alexander Noren	E	F	+1	73	72			145
T59	Jose Maria Olazabal	+2	F	+2	72	74			146
T59	Marcel Siem	+2	F	+2	72	74			146
T59	Gary Boyd	+1	F	+2	73	73			146
T59	Peter Whiteford	+1	F	+2	73	73			146
T59	K.J. Choi	+3	F	+2	71	75			146
T59	S.S.P. Chowrasia	E	F	+2	74	72			146
T59	Rafael Cabrera-Bello	-2	F	+2	76	70			146
T59	Rhys Davies	-1	F	+2	75	71			146
T59	Michael Hoey	+4	F	+2	70	76			146
T59	Richard Green	-1	F	+2	75	71			146
T59	Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano	+2	F	+2	72	74			146
The following players failed to make the Cut
	Robert Coles	1	F	+3	74	73			147
	David Howell	3	F	+3	72	75			147
	Michiel Bothma	-1	F	+3	76	71			147
	Alex Cejka	3	F	+3	72	75			147
	Simon Khan	2	F	+3	73	74			147
	Thongchai Jaidee	-3	F	+3	78	69			147
	Mikko Ilonen	2	F	+3	73	74			147
	Jamie Elson	4	F	+3	71	76			147
	Richard McEvoy	1	F	+3	74	73			147
	Victor Dubuisson	1	F	+3	74	73			147
	Andrew Dodt	-1	F	+3	76	71			147
	Tano Goya	1	F	+3	74	73			147
	Tommy Fleetwood	2	F	+3	73	74			147
	Jbe' Kruger	5	F	+3	70	77			147
	Tom Lewis	E	F	+3	75	72			147
	Niclas Fasth	2	F	+3	73	74			147
	Colin Montgomerie	4	F	+3	71	76			147
	Fredrik Andersson Hed	3	F	+3	72	75			147
	Chris Wood	3	F	+4	73	75			148
	Branden Grace	1	F	+4	75	73			148
	Jason Day	2	F	+4	74	74			148
	James Morrison	1	F	+4	75	73			148
	Robert-Jan Derksen	2	F	+4	74	74			148
	Hennie Otto	2	F	+5	75	74			149
	Brett Rumford	5	F	+5	72	77			149
	Damien McGrane	4	F	+5	73	76			149
	Christian Nilsson	3	F	+5	74	75			149
	Edoardo Molinari	3	F	+5	74	75			149
	Todd Hamilton	1	F	+5	76	73			149
	Martin Wiegele	E	F	+5	77	72			149
	Michael Campbell	-2	F	+5	79	70			149
	Danny Willett	2	F	+5	75	74			149
	Scott Jamieson	4	F	+5	73	76			149
	Pablo Larrazabal	3	F	+6	75	75			150
	Shane Lowry	5	F	+6	73	77			150
	Martin Kaymer	1	F	+6	77	73			150
	Oscar Floren	3	F	+6	75	75			150
	Gregory Bourdy	2	F	+6	76	74			150
	Michael Jonzon	3	F	+6	75	75			150
	Alvaro Quiros	E	F	+6	78	72			150
	Matthew Zions	4	F	+6	74	76			150
	Peter Lawrie	E	F	+6	78	72			150
	Kenneth Ferrie	3	F	+6	75	75			150
	Gregory Havret	E	F	+6	78	72			150
	Peter Hedblom	3	F	+6	75	75			150
	Bernd Wiesberger	2	F	+7	77	74			151
	George Murray	3	F	+7	76	75			151
	Fabrizio Zanotti	3	F	+7	76	75			151
	Phillip Price	3	F	+8	77	75			152
	Christian Cevaer	4	F	+8	76	76			152
	Henrik Stenson	1	F	+9	80	73			153
	Carlos Del Moral	7	F	+9	74	79			153
	Darren Clarke	9	F	+9	72	81			153
	Soren Kjeldsen	4	F	+10	78	76			154
	Marc Warren	8	F	+11	75	80			155
	Pablo Martin	3	F	+13	82	75			157
	Lee Slattery	9	F	+13	76	81			157
	Sam Little	8	F	+17	81	80			161
	Ahmed Al Musharrekh (a)	8	F	+18	82	80			162
	Stuart Fee	14	F	+29	87	86			173

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by Nole77

What did he do?

Agreed, I didn't get to see the 2nd round.

[Beachcomber]

Looks like he brushed sand away from his line when he was off the putting surface?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/9043837/Rory-McIlroys-two-stroke-penalty-dents-title-hopes-at-Abu-Dhabi-HSBC-Championship.html

[MiniBlueDragon]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

Looks like he brushed sand away from his line when he was off the putting surface?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/9043837/Rory-McIlroys-two-stroke-penalty-dents-title-hopes-at-Abu-Dhabi-HSBC-Championship.html

Yeah his ball was on the fringe between the bunker Tiger chipped out of and the green. Tiger's shot left sand on Rory's line and as he intended to putt from there he thought it was fine to brush it away. My understanding is that he'd only be allowed to brush that sand away if his ball was already on the green rather than fringe.

[Ernest Jones]

So, he should be at -7 and sharing the lead if not for the penalty? Ouch that's gotta hurt! INDEED!

[MiniBlueDragon]

"Obviously, that wasn't the best start, 3 over through three. I battled back really well to get it back to even par after eight," McIlroy said.

"Made a mistake on 9 when I brushed the sand off the green, wasn't thinking clearly and a penalty there. Felt like I played the back nine well. Even par, considering everything that happened out there today, is a decent score."

Players are allowed to brush away sand on the green but not on the fringe.

"I mean, my ball was just maybe six feet off the green and there was a lot of sand in between my ball and the hole. I just brushed the sand and Luke was like, 'I don't think you can brush sand off the fringe,'" he said. "And I'm like, 'Oh, yeah, you're right'.

Just one of those things … You're going to get a bad deal every now and again, and just have to take it on the chin and try and come back and get the shots back as quick as possible."

[Clambake]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

Looks like he brushed sand away from his line when he was off the putting surface?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/9043837/Rory-McIlroys-two-stroke-penalty-dents-title-hopes-at-Abu-Dhabi-HSBC-Championship.html

I'm dumbfounded when pros make rules gaffes like this.     In the education for my career (like many of us here), I probably had to read a couple hundred textbooks, most very complex and requiring countless hours of study.    To be a pro golfer, you only really need to read one book: the Rules of Golf.    Only one!   It's pretty easy to read and doesn't require deep analysis.   It's not very long, and easily slips into your pocket.      A Tour pro's ignorance of that little book can have very large consequences to their livelihood - just read the #$@% book!!!

[Paradox]

I'm sure that Rory has read the book and knows the rules.  More likely its a case of you've been so long without needing the rule you just don't pay attention to what you're doing sometimes.  It isn't like he fought Donald over the ruling and said "I can brush sand away anywhere I want! Its on my line!"

[brocks]

Yeah his ball was on the fringe between the bunker Tiger chipped out of and the green. Tiger's shot left sand on Rory's line and as he intended to putt from there he thought it was fine to brush it away.

LOL, Tiger gets blamed for everything! Actually, Tiger's approach landed in the fairway in front of the green, and never went near Rory's ball. Most of the sand on the fringe was from Rory's approach, which landed in the bunker and bounced out, kicking up sand along the way. The golfing gods got their revenge very quickly for that.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Originally Posted by brocks

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

Yeah his ball was on the fringe between the bunker Tiger chipped out of and the green. Tiger's shot left sand on Rory's line and as he intended to putt from there he thought it was fine to brush it away.

LOL, Tiger gets blamed for everything!

Actually, Tiger's approach landed in the fairway in front of the green, and never went near Rory's ball. Most of the sand on the fringe was from Rory's ball, which actually landed in the bunker and bounced out. The golfing gods got their revenge very quickly for that.

I retract my previous statement.

The announcers on Sky Sports, while showing a replay of Rory brushing sand away from his putting line said something along the lines of "That's a two stroke penalty as he's not allowed to brush sand away unless he's on the green but he's on the fringe. Ironically most of that sand was from Tiger's bunker shot" - Of course I assumed their statement to be factual when in actual fact if you're correct it wasn't.

That's where the Tiger comment came from.

Happy?