Rory McIlroy holes out from 73 yards for eagle as he takes Abu Dhabi lead
Rory McIlroy takes a one-stroke lead over Tyrrell Hatton with 18 holes to go at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship...
Rory McIlroy made a stunning eagle from 73 yards out the rough on the par-5 10th hole en route to taking a narrow one-stroke lead with 18 holes to play at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
McIlroy, 31, went on to card a solid 5-under 67 to reach 13-under par for the tournament and move one stroke clear of Tyrrell Hatton, who could only manage a 1-under 71. WATCH McIlroy's moment of magic on the par-5 10th hole in the video below:
Rory hole-out from 73 yards! #ADGolfChamps #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/yQWKVIDVKu
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 23, 2021
The Northern Irishman may have 14 European Tour titles to his name but he has not won on the circuit since landing the WGC-HSBC Champions in November 2019.
Tommy Fleetwood, who was 3-over par after his first nine holes on Thursday, has raced into contention since and finds himself in solo third on 11-under after matching McIlroy's round of 67. Fleetwood is incredibly bidding to win this tournament for a third time since 2017.
Marc Warren and David Lipsky lie a further stroke back on 10-under par following rounds of 68, while Rafa Cabrera-Bello fell back to 9-under par after a disappointing 73.
While McIlroy's eagle hole-out was impressive at the 10th, arguably the shot of the day came courtesy of Alex Levy when he made a hole-in-one at the par-3 15th. He also won a new BMW in the process.
WATCH Levy's incredible ace below, and make sure you stay for the celebration:
Hole-in-One Alert @alexlevygolf wins the BMW 850i @bmwgolfsport!#ADGolfChamps #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/iFNigvPO2z
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 23, 2021
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