DP World Tour Championship - Day two digest

Everything you need to know from day two at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Hatton and Fitzpatrick traded blows at the head of the pack while McIlroy finished with a flourish on day two of the 2022 DP World Tour Championship.

Here is everything you need to know from the second round in Dubai.

Fitzpatrick's great escape

Matt Fitzpatrick looked in deep trouble when his tee-shot at the sixth appeared to find the water to the left of the green but, after discovering his ball clinging on the edge of the rocks, the U.S. Open Champion got up and down for an unlikely par to keep him at eight under. He celebrated his good fortune by following it with back-to-back birdies, before signing for a second-round 67 to remain locked at the top of the leaderboard alongside Tyrrell Hatton.

Hatton starts with hat-trick

Hatton shared the first-round lead after an opening 65 and wasted little time in cementing himself at the top on day two with birdies at the first three holes. The Englishman holed from six feet at the first and third either side of a cute shot over a greenside bunker to set up another gain at the second. Another birdie at the fifth, and eight in total, kept him alongside Fitzpatrick at the summit.

Wu from worst to first

Having shot six bogeys and a double on Thursday in an opening 78, the worst first-round score, China's Wu Ashun followed it up with the lowest round of the day on Friday. He gave his opening birdie straight back with a six at the second but carded another four on the front nine and four more after the turn for a 64 to climb to two under par.

Spanish success

Spanish players were well represented on the leaderboard at the tournament's halfway point, with Adri Arnaus shooting 68 to share third place and Jon Rahm and Jorge Campillo a shot further back after impressive rounds of 66 and 65 respectively. Arnaus finished with an eagle three to leapfrog his compatriots, with Rahm carding seven birdies and Campillo eight to more than offset a solitary dropped shot apiece.

Big finish for Rory...

Rory McIlroy had made little impression with an opening 71 and a level-par second round through 15 holes, but finished on a high. After birdies at the 16th and 17th, the World Number One hit a stunning 226-yard approach to three feet at the par-five last and rapped in the eagle putt to enter the weekend on five under. "Something clicked," he said afterwards. "Whatever it is, I need to bottle it for the weekend."

...and Ramsay

Scotland's Richie Ramsay was another player ticking along at three under par until the last, where he found trouble on the left and had to hack out before holing from 189 yards for an unlikely eagle.