McGinley on a roll in Dubai

14 April 2012

Tiger Woods, not for the first time in his career, found himself upstaged by Ryder Cup rival Paul McGinley as the Dubai Desert Classic moved into a dramatic second round.

Nearly 18 months ago, McGinley sank the putt at The Belfry that sealed Europe's victory over a supposedly superior United States team headed by Woods.

The Irishman was at it again today, charging through the field with a birdie-laden round to head the leaderboard on 11 under par, six shots ahead of the world No1.

Woods was clearly rattled because after missing a five-foot putt at the ninth, his last hole of the second round, he threw his putter at his golf bag, followed by his ball, in a display of petulance that brought gasps from the gallery at the Emirates course.

It was not the behaviour the polite Arab crowd might have expected from a sportsman reported to being paid nearly £2million simply for turning up here.

The American's only consolation was an otherwise solid round of 69 that still leaves him with an outside chance heading into the weekend.

McGinley is surely favourite for the title, however, after playing oneanda-half rounds in which he couldn't stop bagging birdies - a total of 14 in all.

Finishing a first round held over from yesterday when fog delayed the start, McGinley came in with five birdies in his last six holes, four of them being successive from the 15th for a 68. Then, without hardly stopping for breath, he started his second round with another four birdies, making eight in succession before giving one of those shots back to the course with a bogey five at his fifth, the par-four 14th.

McGinley dropped another shot at the first, heading home, but sank five more birdie putts for a round of 65 and a 36-holes total of 133.

That left him one ahead of playing partner Mark O'Meara and three in front of overnight leader Bradley Dredge, of Wales, who was not going to complete his second round today after fog forced another late start.

O'Meara came to Dubai on the coattails of close friend Woods but the old-timer upstaged the young gun with a second round of 64, which included the kind of putts that won him a US Masters and Open Championship double in 1998.

LAURA DAVIES repeated her opening round of 68 to move four shots clear at the halfway stage of the Women's Australian Open at Concord Golf Club in Sydney.
Transsexual Mianne Bagger improved on her first-day 84 by 10 shots but missed the cut.

CHRIS SMITH shot a seven-underpar round of 65 to hold a one-shot lead over Joe Durant after the first round of the Doral Championship in Miami.

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