Tiger Woods moves to joint favourite after Rory McIlroy blunder
Published:Tiger Woods shot a second round 69 at the Abu Dhabi Championship to move level with overnight leader Rory McIlroy and finish the day three shots behind half-way leader Thorbjorn Olesen.
It was enough to see Woods’ odds slashed to 3/1 to win the European Tour event – the same as US Open champion McIlroy.
It could have been so much better for McIlroy though as he was penalised for wiping sand from his line on the par four ninth when just off the green.
Playing partner Luke Donald pointed out the error and the two-point penalty meant he went out in a less than brilliant 38 shots – five worse than his front nine yesterday.
He recovered well though and shot a two-under back nine to leave himself well in contention.
Meanwhile, Woods continued his improvement and looked extremely solid once again.
He didn’t match his fantastic first round achievement of hitting 17 of 18 green in regulation, but his putting once again looked on track as he rolled in five birdies and just two bogies.
The pair are sure to feature heavily this weekend but there are plenty of players in the mix who are more than capable of lifting the trophy on Sunday – not least the current leader.
Olesen holds a one-shot advantage over the rest of the field and – despite not winning on the tour yet – he is an extremely promising young player and looks to have the game to make a big impression in 2012.
He is currently 16/1 to win the tournament which could prove to be an excellent punt – especially if you back him each-way.
