World No 70 Lowry closed with a birdie to add a three-under 69 to his opening 71 and move up to tied fourth, just five strokes behind Sergio Garcia on four-under par and remain on course to continue his rise in the Race to Dubai and the world rankings. But it was another frustrating day for McIlroy at Gary Player Country Club and a microcosm of his year as he posted an erratic, one-under 71 that left him where he started the day, eight behind Garcia. The Co Down man knows he can afford to finish no worse than second if he’s to have any chance of overtaking Francesco Molinari with a win in next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship and claim his fourth Race to Dubai title. But after starting promisingly with birdies at the second and third, he missed too many fairways and mixed three bogeys with two birdies in an exasperating spell mid-round, even missing a two-foot tiddler for par at the eighth. “It’s been a frustrating couple of days,” confessed McIlroy, who is tied for 19th on one-under par. “My game is not really where I want it to be, but I’ve got two more opportunities this week to try and put a couple of good rounds together and then go to Dubai and try to finish the season on a high. “I need to tidy up my game off the tee, and then if I do that, you can give yourself a lot of… [Read full story]
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