Pádraig Harrington kept up his bid to make next week’s lucrative $9 million DP World Tour Championship after a five-under-par 67 moved him to nine under and a share of 17th position ahead of the weekend action at the Aviv Dubai Championship.
The Ryder Cup captain needs a top 10 finish this week to make it into the top 50 in the Road to Dubai Championship and remain on in the emirate for next week’d season-ending tournament.
Harrington, who opened with a 68, had a bogey on the par-three second and also dropped a shot on the sixth, but four birdies on the front nine saw him turn in two-under 34.
The 50-year-old Dubliner again enjoyed the back nine, coming home with three birdies after making five on that stretch during his first round.
At nine under, Harrington trails defending champion and playing partner Antoine Rozner by six shots after the Frenchman added a 64 to his opening 65 to move to 15 under.
Rozner vowed to maintain his aggressive approach after claiming a one-shot lead at the halfway stage.
Rozner, who has not dropped a shot over the first two days, birdied six of his last eight holes to reach 15 under par, a shot ahead of JB Hansen and Francesco Laporta.
Finland's Kalle Samooja is a shot further back, with the English pair of Tommy Fleetwood and Paul Waring three off the lead on 12 under.
Rozner, who shot 25 under on the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates to win his maiden European Tour title last year, said: “I think I was playing really well, even on the front nine, but a few putts didn’t drop.
“I just kept putting myself in good positions hole after hole and a few putts dropped on the back nine which was great. It was definitely one of my best ball-striking rounds out here.
“My long game was perfect, I was striping it shot after shot. I missed one green on 17 and that was the only hole I put myself in trouble but I got away with it with a good par.
“Stay aggressive is the mindset, you have be aggressive over and over. I did that really well last year, obviously I can use that experience from last year and that’s helping me.
“Last year I was so aggressive over four rounds and I think it’s paying off this week so if I keep doing what I’m doing over the next two days, hopefully there will be a good result in there.”
Fleetwood was one over par after six holes but played the last 12 in seven under to card a second consecutive 66 as he bids to become the fourth member of Europe's Ryder Cup team – after Matt Fitzpatrick, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland – to win a tournament since the record defeat at Whistling Straits.
“It was a poor start,” Fleetwood said. “I missed a chance on the first and then missed a short putt [on the second]. On such a low-scoring course if you have a dry patch it feels so much worse.
“I holed a putt on seven and played really, really well coming in and had plenty of chances. I felt like I did a good job of continuing to play and hitting good golf shots.
“I didn’t get panicked or frustrated that I hadn’t had the start I would like and then it all came together, which doesn’t always happen. But it did and it was another good day.”
Clandeboye's Jonathan Caldwell made the cut after carding a five-under 67 that included eight birdies, one bogey and a double-bogey on the par-three 14th. The round moved him to six under for the tournament.
Leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 72
129 Antoine Rozner (Fra) 65 64
130 Joachim B Hansen (Den) 63 67, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 66 64
131 Kalle Samooja (Fin) 67 64
132 Tommy Fleetwood 66 66, Paul Waring 65 67
133 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 66, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 65 68, Sean Crocker (USA) 67 66, Robin Roussel (Fra) 69 64
134 Niklas Lemke (Swe) 67 67, Min-Woo Lee (Aus) 67 67, Grant Forrest 69 65, Sam Horsfield 67 67, Scott Jamieson 69 65, Ashley Chesters 68 66
135 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 67 68, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 71 64, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 69 66, Callum Shinkwin 66 69, Pádraig Harrington 68 67, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 66 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 66, Oliver Farr 69 66
136 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 67, Paul Casey 68 68, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 69 67, John Catlin (USA) 69 67, Robert MacIntyre 68 68, Andy Sullivan 65 71, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 68 68, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 69 67, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 70 66, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 69 67, Jack Senior 70 66, Matthew Jordan 69 67, David Coupland 67 69
137 Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 69 68, Marcus Armitage 68 69, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 68, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 70, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 67 70, Jordan Smith 69 68, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 67, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 67 70, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 71
138 Victor Perez (Fra) 70 68, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 72 66, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 68 70, Jeff Winther (Den) 72 66, Ignacio Elvira (Esp) 69 69, Jonathan Caldwell 71 67, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 67 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 69 69, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 70 68, James Morrison 68 70
139 Chris Wood 71 68, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 71 68, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 69, Stephen Gallacher 70 69, Justin Harding (Rsa) 70 69, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 67 72, Daniel Gavins 69 70, David Law 70 69, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 71, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 69 70, Joel Stalter (Fra) 71 68, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 72 67, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 69 70
Missed cut
140 Rafael Cabrera (Esp) 70 70, Scott Hend (Aus) 68 72, Thomas Detry (Bel) 67 73, Richie Ramsay 71 69, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 71 69, David Drysdale 71 69, David Howell 72 68
141 Tom Lewis 69 72, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 72, Ahmed Skaik UAE 68 73, Oliver Wilson 71 70, Justin Walters (Rsa) 72 69, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 70 71
142 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70 72, Ross McGowan 68 74, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 75 67, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 67 75, Gavin Green (Mal) 72 70, Ross Fisher 73 69, Ricardo Santos (Por) 69 73, Sebastian Garcia (Esp) 70 72, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 72 70
143 Steven Brown 72 71, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 73, Richard McEvoy 76 67, Matt Wallace 72 71, Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 72, Dale Whitnell 72 71
144 Eddie Pepperell 73 71, Julian Suri (USA) 73 71
145 Johannes Veerman (USA) 74 71, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 73, David Horsey 71 74, Oliver Fisher 72 73, Connor Syme 75 70
146 Chris Paisley 77 69, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 76 70, Garrick Porteous 73 73
147 Marc Warren 73 74, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 75 72
148 Renato Paratore (Ita) 79 69, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 72 76, Clement Sordet (Fra) 76 72
149 Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 74 75
152 Benjamin Poke (Den) 75 77
