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Fitzpatrick moves into lead as Fleetwood and Rose fall behind

In an excellent putting form, defending champion Fitzpatrick holed a 25-footer for a birdie on the 18th to finish ten under par and lead the field of 60 top golfers after two day.

The Earth at the Jumeirah Golf Estate is witnessing an intense Race to Dubai battle between two Englishmen - Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose - but their third compatriot - Matthew Fitzpatrick on Friday nosed ahead of them for the DP World Tour Championship title.
In an excellent putting form, defending champion Fitzpatrick holed a 25-footer for a birdie on the 18th to finish ten under par and lead the field of 60 top golfers after two day.
The same hole, however, stung Rose badly. He could have joined his fellow Briton at the top of the leaderboard but his attempt to hit second shot to the green ended up near Grand Stands and then he three putted for a bogey to end the day on two under par and two behind tournament leader Fitzpatrick.
While Rose finished the second round horrendously, his friend and opening round partner, Fleetwood had a far better end to the second round. A birdie to the thunderous applause from the spectators at the Grand Stand, saw long-haired Englishman improve his first round score of 72 to 65 in the second to take the pole position for the Harry Vardon Trophy.
Leader Fitzepatrick felt that he putted really well throughout the day. "It was great to obviously hole the 25-footer on the last," he said about his incredible birdie on the 18th.
"You've just got to be really sort of careful with your putts. Every putt is effectively a two-putt. If you've got a 10-footer for a birdie, there's no way you can hit it -- you've got to control your pace well and limit your mistakes, because it's easy to 3-putt out here," the 23-year-old Englishman explained about his excellent putting.
Fitzpatrick is set to become just the second player to defend DP World Tour Championship title after Henrik Stenson won it in 2013 and 2014.
"I'm not trying to win the Race to Dubai, unfortunately," he said with a wryly.
"I won here last year, so again, I've got nothing to lose. Obviously, it would be nice to defend but you know sort of the odds when you're coming into the tournament, there are great players at the top of the leaderboard already," he modestly added.
He, however, pointed out that having won here last year gave him a little bit more confidence than everyone else, "maybe apart from Rosey because he's won the last two starts," he added in second breath.
"Yeah, I'm just looking forward to the weekend and delighted that I could put myself in position," the tournament leader after two days.
Talking about the English dominance on Friday at The Earth he said: "I saw that round from Tyrrell (Hatton), which was very, very good, and Tommy, as well, to bounce back after yesterday under the pressure that he's under. Yeah, it's very impress."
Hatton was leading the second round until Fitzpatrick raced ahead of him in the evening.
The Briton birdied the third and a hole-out from 144 yards on the fifth gave him an eagle. He ended the round with a bogey on the 18th but not before three on the trot at the start of the back nine in his eight birdies on the second day.
Ergo, the Race to Dubai will intensify for the next two days between the two Englishmen even as two other compatriots could throw a spanner in their plans with eye on the tournament victory.
sunilvaidya@khaleejtimes.com