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By Kent Gray
For a fleeting moment on Friday at Jumeirah Golf Estates, it really was game on in the two-man dogfight to become European No.1.

Tommy Fleetwood had found his way to the summit of the 10th DP World Tour Championship leaderboard, a position he must somehow regain come Sunday evening to have any chance of overhauling Francesco Molinari for the Harry Vardon trophy, while the Italian was doing his bit for his best pal on tour by sliding down the standings.

By the close of the second round of snakes and ladders, Fleetwood’s hand wasn’t quite as commanding but he had definitely wrestled the initiative, a 67 to go with his opening 69 leaving the Englishman in a four-way share of sixth alongside Rory McIlroy, Dean Burmester and Kiradech Apibarnrat at -8.

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Fleetwood is just three shots adrift of Matt Wallace’s halfway lead and while there is much work to do to win and give himself a shot at repeating as Race to Dubai champion, it’s not half as tough as the job suddenly confronting the frontman of Europe’s now fabled ‘Moliwood’ Ryder Cup duo.

With four bogeys in his last six holes, Molinari signed for an untidy one-over 73 to head into moving day on Earth in a share of 27th place on -3. If Fleetwood does go on to win, Molinari needs to finish inside the top five to become the first Italian to top the European Tour money-list. Game on then.

Molinari sidestepped the media afterwards, leaving Fleetwood to provide the context to the pressure-filled weekend ahead.

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“It’s still only day two, and in terms of the golf tournament, leaderboards mean nothing in day two but you can’t help but look at them in the moment when you know what you have to do,” Fleetwood said.

“It’s a challenge but it’s one that I think every other player would kindly accept. You’ve got to enjoy that. That’s the reason why we do it and they are massive, massive learning experiences. As difficult as it is, it’s still very enjoyable.”

Enjoyable, in a stressful way given the very clear scenario facing Fleetwood.

“Yeah, it’s tough. Especially when it’s something like The Race to Dubai, and it’s not just one tournament, but a combination of every single shot you’ve hit throughout the year, and just everything this week is heightened; I did it last year and it’s very difficult.

“You get tested in so many different ways. There’s putts out there: 3-putt on 7, 3-putt on 14 [both for pars], you feel those more than what you might do, but you definitely feel them more than if you were starting 50th this week and you weren’t in with a chance.”

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“From a tournament perspective, 72 holes is a long time but it’s a very short period of time that we’ve got left now in the grand scheme of the year.

“It’s difficult but you just have to keep your mind on the next shot and keep pushing on. The important thing yesterday [Thursday] was to make sure I still had a chance at the end of the day. The important thing today, make sure you have a chance at the end of today. We’ve still done that, so we’ll just be happy with it.”