England’s Richard Bland moved into a share of the lead at the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday (AEDT) as Rory McIlroy headed to the driving range after an inconsistent round.
With heavy rain forcing a Monday finish Bland, who lost in a play-off last year, added a second straight five-under-par 67 to top the midway leaderboard with Belgium’s Thomas Pieters (67) and American amateur Michael Thorbjornsen (64).
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Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult (65), Scotland’s Connor Syme (67) and Spain’s Adri Arnaus (68) were tied for fourth at nine-under par on a day when the sun was finally shining.
But the 60-odd millimetres of rain dumped over the past few days had made the conditions soft and the preferred lies rules were still in play, abetting the low scores.
World number one…
