Rory McIlroy has, for the third round at least, avoided a pairing that “Teegate” rival Patrick Reed warned would be “a circus”, and is free to concentrate on his first-start-of-the-year curse instead.
In his 14 calendar-opening events so far in his garlanded career the world No1 has never won, despite finishing in the top five a remarkable 12 times and second on four occasions. Will the Dubai Desert Classic, the scene of his maiden victory as a pro, at last witness McIlroy putting this anomaly to rest?
On eight-under, McIlroy, 33, is only two back and clearly capable of so much better in the final two rounds of this weather-affected Rolex Series event. When he signed for a two-under 70 on Saturday, his focus was solely on getting to the range and not on the maths with which seemingly everyone else here at the Emirates Golf Club was obsessed.
With Reed on the same mark after his own 70, it appeared highly likely that the duo would be playing together on Sunday and after the build-up, when the pair feuded through the media, that was a delicious prospect indeed.
Alas, McIlroy is in the group behind Reed and any ghouls looking for extreme awkwardness on the first tee will have to make do with Henrk Stenson playing with Luke Donald, the Englishman who replaced him six months ago as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain after the Swede was stripped of the role for breaking his contract by jumping ship to LIV Golf in a £40 million deal.
However, as Telegraph Sport revealed last week, Stenson and Donald have talked since the controversy, so do not expect any fireworks on that front. Instead, the bangs, fizzes and whistles should be provided by the golf itself on a scoreboard featuring 29 players within four shots of the lead.
LIV, the Saudi-funded circuit, has a healthy presence – if “healthy” is the appropriate adjective – with Southampton veteran Richard Bland (67) sharing the advantage alongside Belgian Thomas Pieters (67)…
