Woods, McIlroy poised for Gulf challenge
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were paired together for the third straight day at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on Saturday.
The two top crowd-pullers, along with world No 1 Luke Donald, were bundled together by organisers to anchor the first two rounds in the $2.7 million European Tour event.
But their third round match came about by dint of both reaching the halfway stage at five under par 139, two shots off the lead held by Danish prospect Thorbjorn Olesen.
The 22-year-old, world No 3 McIlroy was joint leader after the first round on 67, but slipped to a par-72 on Friday after incurring a two-stroke penalty at the ninth for brushing sand off his line on the green when his ball was still in the rough.
Woods, the 36-year-old former world No 1, who is on the comeback trail after a disastrous 2011, opened with a 70 and followed up with an impressive 69 in the second round.
The American has looked well in control so far in Abu Dhabi, hitting 83.3 percent of greens in regulation and making just the two bogeys, both times failing to get up and down out of a bunker.
He has been circumspect in his comments saying he is simply concentrating on "plugging along and keep doing what I'm doing."
"I fell like I'm swinging well and a lot of things that (coach) Sean (Foley) and I have been working on are starting to feel very comfortable and consequently I'm shooting good scores."
McIlroy has blown hot and cold so far with 13 birdies in his two rounds set against four bogeys and two double bogeys.
"Was busy making birdies, bogeys and others!! Need to limit mistakes at the weekend!" he said of his hopes for the weekend on his Twitter account.
Woods and McIlroy were just two of 30 players grouped within five shots of the lead including major winners Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Charl Schwartzel and Paul Lawrie.