Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship – Day two digest

Paul Waring surged clear with a Yas Links course record, Rory McIlroy disliked an approach to an inch from the hole and Johannes Veerman took inspiration from a Disney movie.

Here is everything you need to know from round two at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Waring storms ahead with record round

Waring's 61 was a Yas Links course record, the lowest round of his DP World Tour career and saw him set a Tour record low score in relation to par of 19 under. The Englishman moved five clear of overnight leader Tommy Fleetwood, American Veerman and Danish pair Thorbjørn Olesen and Niklas Norgaard. Waring had eight birdies over his first 17 holes and holed his approach for eagle at the sixth, but saved the shot of the day for the 18th. After a wayward drive became embedded, he was given a free drop but could still only chop his second back onto the fairway. From 250 yards he hit a perfect fairway wood which fed down to four feet from the pin to leave a routine birdie putt. Waring said: “That was the best shot I’ve ever hit in my life to be honest. The tee shot on 18 was a little bit peculiar for me because I had been hitting it great all day, so even over that three-wood I felt like could I hit a solid shot into the part of the green and just hit a little draw. In total honesty I’m just trying to keep going, keep making birdies.”

Danes daring to dream

Norgaard's flawless 65 and Olesen's eventful 67 not only moved them into a share of second but also left both projected to climb The Race to Dubai Standings in Partnership with Rolex. As it stands, both players are on course to finish inside the top ten and earn a PGA TOUR card for 2025. Olesen said: “It's two of the biggest weeks of the year I think. Great tournaments. It's always nice to play in the Middle East and these two are massive. So everybody wants to finish strong here. Yeah, it's exciting.“ Norgaard added: “My main goal for these two weeks is to lock up that top ten and get that. I just want to come down here and play some proper golf. That's the challenge in golf - it matters so much but trying to make it not matter, it's really difficult. So just been one shot at a time, and I've done that well these two days.”

McIlroy unimpressed by magnificent approach

Rory McIlroy clearly didn't make the connection he wanted with his approach to the ninth, but the end result was spectacular.

Lee launches iron shot

Min Woo Lee smashing a three-iron 336 yards down the third fairway. Impressive.

Veerman draws inspiration from Finding Nemo

Veerman followed up his impressive opening 63 with a five-under-par 67 and afterwards vowed to “just keep swimming”. He said: “It was real fun to play today. This is why we all play golf. Because you want to be in these situations, and you want to feel the pressure, and it's great to feel uncomfortable. It's very stressful at the same time, but that's why you play to be here. You also try not to think too much about it. So it's just weird like mental game you're almost playing with yourself. But yeah I'm very excited for the weekend. I don't know, just keep swimming. My son, he's two years old, he's watching Finding Nemo and Dory says 'just keep swimming'. So I'm thinking 'just keep swimming, just keep swimming'."