By Kent Gray

Thomas Pieters may lead the 13th Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship but with all due respect to the Belgian bomber and a bevy of big names on a bunched leaderboard, Rory’s the story.

With an exquisite eagle on 18, Rory McIlroy put his autograph on a 66 and Friday’s second round at the $3 million Desert Swing opener to glide into moving day just three shots off Pieters’ blistering -12 pace.

McIlroy’s score wasn’t the best round of the day or even the lowest in his group. That honour belonged to world No.1 Dustin Johnson whose sublime eight-under 64 was matched by second placed Spaniard Jorge Campillo and South African low score specialist Branden Grace (who can forget that historic 62 in last summer’s Open at Royal Birkdale) who soared 59 spots up the leaderboard into a share of 10th.

A 68 from Tommy Fleetwood, the third member of the McIlroy-Johnson group, was nothing to be sneezed at either. It leaves the defending champion a mere two shots adrift and meant the marquee three-ball looped The National in a combined 18 under with just one bogey between them, Fleetwood’s five on the par 4 16th.

But it was McIlroy’s booming drive, long-iron, putt from downtown combo in the fading light that lit up what is already an utterly absorbing championship.

Indeed, the return of Rory after a 3.5 month sabbatical to sort body and soul after a winless 2017 might be just 36 holes old, but it’s clear the thus-far bogey-free world No.11 is back to near his best.

“It was a nice way to finish,” McIlroy. “Felt like I gave myself tons of chances on the back nine and it was sort of difficult to convert them. I always struggle to read these greens, the colour of them and I feel like I’m hitting good putts and they are just sliding by the edges.

“But I stayed patient and feel like I got what I deserved on the last for staying so patient and it was nice to finish with a three, leapfrog a few guys and get myself into contention for the weekend.”

As impressive as McIlroy has been, the Northern Irishman admitted there “wasn’t that many fireworks apart from the putt on the last” which made the 25-plus footer, the difference between seven or eight under and his eventual score of -9, critical going into the weekend.

“It’s massive. With five shots to make up over the weekend, it’s quite a lot especially with a bunched leaderboard, so to cut that deficit to three, I feel so much closer to the lead. Feel like if I get off to a hot start tomorrow before the leaders go off and all of a sudden you’re one back or tied for the lead, and then you’re really in the tournament.”

There were, of course, countless storylines other than Rory; Campillo’s blemish free card of eight birdies; a second successive 67 from Ross Fisher and Alexander Levy’s 65 which sees the Frenchman just two back in a share of third at -10 alongside Fisher and Fleetwood.

Tied for sixth on -9 with McIlroy are Paul Casey, Andy Sullivan (both 65), Sam Brazel and Bernd Wiesberger (68) who all intend on having a say on moving day and hopefully beyond.

Even Matt Kuchar, making his Abu Dhabi bow, provided a bit of late drama, draining a birdie bomb on 18 to squeeze into the weekend on the -2 cutline like Justin Rose. Big names such as Westwood, Poulter, McDowell and Dechambeau weren’t so fortunate.

But for theatre on Friday it was difficult to look beyond the marquee trio.

After another slow even par start on Thursday, Johnson is right back in the mix. “I did everything really well. I mean, 64, it was a pretty easy 64. I hit it really well. I had a lot of great looks. I didn’t really hole any putts, really, until I made two nice putts on 17 and 18. But other than that, it was just really solid all day long.

“I’m only four back going into the weekend, so we’ve still got 36 holes to go. I just need to play some good, solid golf and get myself right back in there for Sunday.”

Fleetwood, celebrating his 27th birthday, came to the party too even if it wasn’t quite as effortless as his opening 66.

“I wasn’t quite on it today, so it was a bit more of an effort for me. Dustin shot the most stress-free 64 you’ll ever see and Rory just shot the most stress-free 66 you’ll ever see. Those two played great. I was very happy to get in today, sort of from the turn, I didn’t play that great and so I was kind of hanging on.”