World number one Rory McIlroy expressed frustration with his performance at the Dubai Desert Classic, where Thomas Pieters, Michael Thorbjornsen and Richard Bland shared the halfway lead.
The tournament will spill into Monday after adverse weather on the first two days, with Belgian Pieters, Englishman Bland and American amateur Thorbjornsen sharing the lead on 10 under heading into the final two rounds.
McIlroy is tied for seventh place – along with Patrick Reed, after their spat earlier in the week – on eight under.
The Northern Irishman was unhappy with his second round, however, after carding a 70 following his first-round 66.
McIlroy birdied the third and made an eagle putt from 33 feet on the 13th, yet he bogeyed the 10th and could not beat par on any other hole.
"More of the same really," said McIlroy when asked for his thoughts on Saturday's round.
"I think I only hit two fairways. Once you can't hit fairways and the rough is quite thick, it's hard to get any control on your ball, get close to par fours. A little rusty, I need to do a bit of work on it.
"I've chipped and putted it well and got myself around the course okay, been able to post a couple of decent scores and at least have a chance going into the last few days. But definitely more negatives than positives – I need to go and figure it out on the range."
McIlroy was, however, pleased the tournament organisers extended the event through to Monday.
He said: "I'm glad that they've gone to Monday and all the field have the opportunity to play 72 holes. It's such a big event, I think the discrepancy between these big events and the lesser ones, that fourth day could mean a lot to someone for changing the course of their year or their career.
"We can still get to our destinations on Monday night. Thankfully for me, there's two more rounds."
Reed also went round in 70 on Saturday, while Spain's Adri Arnaus, Sweden's Marcus Kinhult and Connor Syme of Scotland stood tied for fourth on nine under par.
Pieters, meanwhile, recovered from a sloppy front nine by having seven birdies after the turn.
American Thorbjornsen carded an eagle and seven birdies as he went round in 64, while Englishman Dan Bradbury registered the best score of the round, a 63, to join McIlroy and Reed on eight under, with Ian Poulter also in the eight-man group on that score.
"It feels good," Thorbjornsen said. "I didn't have the best round yesterday and the day before, felt like I missed a lot of putts out there. I thought I had a pretty good game plan but just stuck to it today. I actually made some putts.
"I enjoy playing professional golf a lot and I'm still an amateur, but just the golf courses that we play, the crowd out there, it's what I'm dreaming of ever since I was five or six years old. It just feels good to be out there."
William Knibbs wins Constant Spring Golf Classic by five strokes in trying conditions
William Knibbs battled the weather and a tough field to emerge champion of the two-day Constant Spring Golf Classic that concluded on Sunday at the Constant Spring Golf Club in Kingston.
Knibbs had a two-day score of 152 to end up five shots ahead of Zandre Roye after both had scored 78s on Saturday’s opening day.
"It felt great to win today (Sunday). I was tied for the lead coming into today. (I) didn't get off to a hot start, doubled the first hole. (The) first swing went out of bounds so after the first hole today (Sunday) I gave myself a three-shot deficit to overcome, which at times extended to a four-shot deficit between me and Zandre (Roye) but I was able to hold it down towards the end. I played really well on the back-nine. That helped me to narrow the gap," Knibbs said afterwards.
Dr. Mark Newnhan with scores of 83 and 79 (162) was the third spot edging last year's winner Sean Morris who scored 164 after posting 89 and 75 over the two rounds.
Jodi Munn-Barrow was the only woman in the field and gave a good account of herself with scores of 77 and 76 for a combined total of 153.
The top performers in the various categories were:
Men & Men Senior 7-12 - Bruce Levy 159 (77, 82), Bruce Lopez 173 (88, 85) and Christopher Carvalho 174 (88, 86).
The Men and Men Senior 13-24 category went to Mitchell Watson - 185 with scores of 86 and 99.
Mike Gleichman 159 won the Men Super Senior 0-12 section over Metry Seaga 164. Ronald Ross 166 copped third place.
Linval Freeman 194, George Wright 197 and Paul Chai Chong 199 were the top three in the Men Super Senior 13 -24.
The Masters category went to Vivian Monteith who posted 183 over the two rounds.
The only junior in the field was Jerone Thomas who competed in the Boys Under 18 category. He posted 184 for his two rounds.
Lee breaks through with victory after four-way playoff at LIV Golf Tucson
New Zealand's Danny Lee won a dramatic four-way playoff at the LIV Golf Tucson as Sergio Garcia's Fireballs GC took out the team event by four strokes on Sunday.
The 32-year-old South Korea-born Lee, who turned professional in 2009 but only won once on the PGA Tour, held his nerve in the playoff to edge out Carlos Ortiz, Louis Oosthuizen and Brendan Steele.
Lee, in his second LIV Golf event, claimed victory in style in the third playoff hole with a putt from off the green on the 18th hole.
"The individual victory means a lot," Lee said. "I haven't won since 2015. I just felt like winning is just not my thing but today just changed that. It’s good to see I’m capable of playing some good golf."
Lee had spurned the chance to clinch victory a hole earlier when he missed a six-foot birdie putt after a brilliant approach.
The New Zealander was part of Kevin Na's Iron Heads GC, who finished third in the team rankings at 19 under, with Garcia's Fireballs winning at 25 under. Dustin Johnson's 4Aces were second at 21 under.
"I wasn’t even looking at the individual score all day," Lee added. "I was only asking about 'how is our team doing?'. That's the reason why Kevin [Na] called and that’s the reason I’m over here."
Oosthuizen had looked the favourite on the players' leaderboard down the bank nine but dropped shots, only to produce an incredible birdie on the final hole to force his way into the playoff.
Steele stayed in the hunt with a fine par save on the 16th after his approach slid off the green and into the rough. Ortiz surged into contention with a final day six-under round.
Marc Leishman came into the final round leading by two strokes, but posted a six-over 77 to tumble down the leaderboard into a tie for 13th.
Taylor Moore swoops to take the Valspar Championship as Spieth, Schenk falter late
Taylor Moore is now a winner on the PGA Tour after shooting a terrific four-under 67 on Sunday to finish atop the Valspar Championship leaderboard.
Moore, 29, is in his second full season on the tour. After four top-10s last time around, and three consecutive top-15 finishes at the recent Farmers Insurance Open, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Phoenix Open, he now has his first victory.
However, he needed some help from the final pairing, as co-leaders Jordan Spieth and Adam Schenk both failed to hold on down the stretch.
Moore's 67 was tied for the second-best score of the day, carding birdies on the 12th, 15th and 16th to pull into a tie for the lead on 10 under when he finished his round.
As he stayed warm on the practice range, Spieth found the water and bogeyed the 16th to fall one behind, but he gave himself a birdie putt on the last hole to potentially force a playoff.
Meanwhile, Schenk was tied for the lead on 18, but a poor drive landed right at the base of a tree, meaning the righty had to scramble it back into the fairway left-handed.
Spieth had the first putt to try and join Moore at 10 under but raced it past, subsequently missing the comebacker to drop down to a tie for third.
Schenk went up next for par to earn a spot in a two-man playoff, but his putt cannoned into the lip of the hole and stayed out.
England's Tommy Fleetwood finished tied with Spieth in third at eight under, and there was a two-stroke gap back to Wyndham Clark alone in fifth at six under.
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