January 20, 2023: Guido Migliozzi produced a big finish on day two of the 2023 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship to head into the weekend tied alongside countryman Francesco Molinari at the top of the leaderboard. Shubhankar Sharma shot two-under 70 in the second round, remaining three strokes behind the leaders.
At 7-under through 36 holes, Shubhankar remained three strokes off the lead. On Friday, he shot five birdies, but also conceded three bogeys to account for his 70.
The Italian duo came into this event fresh from their outstanding displays at last week’s inaugural Hero Cup, where they both delivered 3.5 points and finished unbeaten as Continental Europe defeated Great Britain and Ireland 14.5-10.5 over three days of competition.
And they were on top form again on day two at Yas Links Abu Dhabi, finishing strongly to reach ten under par at the halfway stage of the first Rolex Series event of the season.
After Molinari had shot a second successive 67 in the morning courtesy of six birdies on his back nine, Migliozzi closed his second-round 69 with a hat-trick of birdies to join him at the summit.
“Very pleased. Same score as yesterday but a very different day. Many more up-and-downs than yesterday. A couple of three putts, and a couple of mental errors but also lots of good stuff, a couple of long putts made. So a bit of everything. Obviously, a very good back nine, which is nice. I think where you are, where I’m at at the moment when you go through a tough patch, it’s nice to see that I can pick it up again?” said Molinari.
“Yeah, very different. Conditions were very different, especially when we started, there was hardly any breeze. Yesterday it was breezy all day in the afternoon.
“If I’m completely honest, I didn’t feel as comfortable as I did yesterday on the course but more comfortable toward the end. Like I was saying before when you’re not maybe extremely confident in my game yet, it’s nice to see that even after a rough couple of holes, I can get back to doing my own thing and hitting some good golf shots.
“To be honest I think I’ve been making progress the whole of last year. Obviously, I was falling a long, long way back. So you can’t turn it around in just a couple of weeks. Yeah, just this winter, a couple of small changes. Yeah, just some good work at home. It’s just as simple as that, some quality work at the hole. It was obviously nice last week to play well under pressure and that’s at the end of the day the only way to gain, really, confidence in my game.”
As the wind strengthened in the afternoon, no one was able to catch the Italian pair at the top, with Jason Scrivener their nearest challenger on nine under after mixing four birdies with two bogeys in his 70.
Alexander Levy, making his return to action after 11 months out due to a back injury, is among those on eight under, with fellow Frenchman Victor Perez, Swede Alexander Björk, South African George Coetzee, and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson.
Darkness descended on Yas Links with round two incomplete, therefore those still with holes to play will return on Saturday to finish their rounds. Round three will be a one-tee start, not before 8:00 am local time.
