Jon Rahm of Spain plays his second shot on the third hole during the first round of the DP World Tour Championship Dubai on The Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 21, 2019, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

By Kent Gray
The second round of the 11th DP World Tour Championship is underway. Ahead of the final two-ball of leader Mike Lorenzo-Vera (-9) and Rory McIlroy (-8) heading off at 12.50pm, we gather the thoughts of the headline grabbers from Thursday’s final round to get you up to speed for Friday’s circumnavigation of Earth at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

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JON RAHM (Solo 3rd after a 66)
Q: 66, give us your thoughts, no bogeys on the card?
RAHM: Really good, even though I tried my best to mess it up on the last hole. Really good round. Six weeks of not competing, out of all those six weeks, most of the five were not touching a club. Pleased with the way I’m performing. I could tell how rested I was mentally because on some holes — I never lost patience, I never really got down on myself and stayed with that positive attitude. I’m hoping I can keep playing solid and keep it for the next three days.

Q: What is the biggest challenge when you come back after six weeks?
RAHM: Honestly it was hard to kind of stop golf for a while, and then after a certain time, it was hard to pick it up again. So it was hard to get into that routine again. But once I came to the tournament, kind of switch, you get to the tournament, you get to grinding. I think it’s just getting the feel of putting, chipping, so I spent a lot of time doing that, a lot of short game, putting. The swing, I was feeling good, so all I had to do was make sure my pace was fast greens was good. So far it’s been good.

Q: Have you been looking at the leaderboard and stuff like that?
RAHM: Not really. The only time that it matters is when the last putt is made. Up until then it’s all possibilities and probabilities. Just try to look at what I have coming up the next three days, that’s about it. Get some good rest today and hopefully I can keep it going tomorrow.

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BERND WIESBERGER (T14 after a 70)

 

Q. Thoughts on 2-under 70.
WIESBERGER: I put myself in tricky positions today. Had a lot of sand off the tee, unfortunately, and couldn’t attack, even though conditions were a little bit windy, but it’s still gettable. There’s low scoring. Again like last week, I came off a sloppy start and we hung in there and shot a couple under par, so that’s a positive.

Q. You start the event with your closest rival (Tommy Fleetwood), and he holes his first shot and birdies the second, what are you thinking at that stage?
WIESBERGER: You go out there, and feels a little bit like a Sunday for some reason, but it’s only the first day. Three more rounds of golf. We are going to get our momentum and we are going to have that, as well. It’s still a long week ahead but it definitely feels if you go out there, No. 1 and 2, it feels like you’re in a Sunday shootout in a way, but it’s not. There’s still 54 holes ahead of us and a lot can happen, and try to take the good with the bad and hopefully we get a couple golf breaks and score low the next few days.

Q. Tommy told us in 2017, the pressure was different from contention pressure because it’s an opportunity you might not get in your career. How was it for you?
WIESBERGER: It’s good. I try to cherish it as much as I can. I’m just thinking 72-hole tournament this week. I’m not trying to look at what is happening. I can’t control what Tommy, Matt, Shane and Jon are doing or any other of the 49 guys. So whatever is in my control, I try to do as good as possible, and I’ve done pretty well with that this year and no reason to change that. I’m trying to play for a tournament here and I’m trying to play for The Race to Dubai title, and if I do my very best to finish this tournament as high as possible, that’s all I can do. We’ll add it up at the end.

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TOMMY FLEETWOOD (T4 after a 67)

Q: First person ever to eagle the first hole. Describe that from your point of view?
FLEETWOOD: Very nice start. Hit a great drive and then I actually didn’t expect the 9 to reach the pin. I knew it would be so close — a good shot. Can’t see it, so you just take people’s reaction, but it was the perfect start.

Q: 18 off the rocks, back in the fairway, these things don’t happen when you’re playing poorly.
FLEETWOOD: Well, the rocks are around the green — I played a couple of weeks ago and on the back nine, same thing. I’ll try and avoid that. Just take it as it comes and luck was on my side for a little bit today and last week, so just ride it while it’s there.

Q: In the wider context of hunting down Bernd Wiesberger, he saw how well you played today, but that’s a good platform and that’s what you’ve given yourself, isn’t it?
FLEETWOOD: Yeah, you can only put yourself out of it on day one. There’s a lot more to do. There’s 54 holes now. There are great players up there and all I can do is do my stuff. I’ve got three days of work left, really, until the end of the year. Just make the most of them. Stay very present. Keep doing my best on every golf shot and see how we can get on. I would love to be up there come Sunday but that’s a very long way away. I’ve got a little bit of practice tonight, have dinner and on to tomorrow.

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ROBERT MacINTYRE (T21 after a 71)

Q: Thoughts on a 71?
MacINTYRE: I actually played good. Just got the wind wrong on a couple of occasions and I can’t hit my normal drive with right-to-left wind. It’s been like that since I was a wee boy. I try and hit the draw and it ain’t coming back when it starts out left. Just got the wind wrong a couple of times. My iron play is as good as it’s been. It doesn’t really normally let me down. Overall, positive.

Q: Much chat between you and fellow rookie of the year contender Kurt Kitayama out there?
MacINTYRE: Not too much. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind after the start on the back nine. Me and Greg were having a little chat to ourselves most of the way around. I try and get the chat going but a lot of the time, guys don’t want to, you just get the hint that they are not wanting to talk.

Q: Do you think this is going to go to the wire on Sunday?
MacINTYRE: I feel if I can get my game in shape tomorrow, I can get back in the golf tournament. Right now, happy enough to walk off 1-under par.

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MIKE LORENZO-VERA (Leader after a 63)

Q. 63, tell us how you’re feeling and what’s going on with you?
LORENZO-VERA: Honestly I’m not the feeling well at all. I have no energy. I was down; I had say big lung infection in South Africa and a big treatment, and really feel bad on top of that.

Q: A 63, even though you’re feeling under the weather. Tell us about that?
LORENZO-VERA: Just one of those days where you try to put the ball in play. I played four holes yesterday as practise, and I felt that if I really relaxed a lot, just swing it, like 70 per cent or maybe less, ball was still flying pretty well. It’s like, all right. Relax. Try to be pretty clever and not too aggressive, and then the putter got hot. So that worked.

Q: What will you do to get ready tomorrow?
LORENZO-VERA: Nothing. Go in the room and have a nap and wait for tomorrow.

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JUSTIN ROSE (T8 after a 69)

Q. A round of 69 to start. 9-under is the lead in the clubhouse but how pleased are you with your performance?
ROSE: I mean, yeah, 9-under is a hell of a round. There’s enough wind to make it difficult. It was kind of a very un-Dubai like day, a bit grey and even a spotting of rain there for a little bit. But I played a bit more like Justin Rose today than I have done for a long time to be honest with you. Done some good work this last week on my week off and kind of got to the bottom of a couple moves that I’ve been doing really poorly. Drove the ball unbelievably well today. Felt like I left quite a few out there to be 3-under. So from that point of view, very, very happy with my start. Obviously score-wise, could be better, but I think I’ve been sort of out-scoring how I’ve been playing. So today for the first time in a long time, I kind of feel I’ve come off the golf course, feel like I’ve left a ton out there which is in some ways actually a more encouraging feeling.

Q. You’re no stranger to a big cheque, having won the FedExCup before, and you’ve also won this event, or its equivalent, when it was at Valderrama, and the winner of The Race to Dubai, as well. Did you ever think in that space of time since 2007 that you would be teeing it up with a first-place prize on The European Tour of $3 million?
ROSE: No, I think it’s fantastic. It’s a nice kudos for The European Tour to have a winner’s cheque that’s bigger than anything on the PGA Tour, but I know the FedExCup, the way they have arranged it now, it feels like a first place sort of prize money. But it’s still like the year’s-long bonus, is the way I still see it. Really, really cool and kudos to The European Tour for set things up like that in the playoffs, all this Race to Dubai run. Obviously last week Tommy pulled in a pretty good cheque and the week before Tyrrell. All the lads are smiling to be honest, and it would be nice to get in on the action.

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TOM LEWIS (T4 after a 67)

Q: Great start, 67. How was that for you?
LEWIS: Yeah, really happy with that. Played really well all day. I holed an eagle putt on the last, made it extra special and hopefully I can just carry on playing the way I’m playing, thinking the way I’m thinking and if the putts drop, then you never know what’s going to happen on Sunday.

Q. Going back to the eagle on 18, after a dropped shot on a very difficult 17th to get your mind back on it?
LEWIS: Yeah, it’s a difficult hole. It’s an accessible hole. Today there’s going to be a lot of birdies — not a lot but there’s going to be a few birdies. I sort of chickened out and went a little bit right and sort of cost me. That’s probably the only shot I didn’t really commit to and sort of served me right a little bit. But if I can go out there and hit the shots I’ve been hitting and commit to everything I can, there should be plenty of birdies out there.

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FRANCESCO MOLINARI (T8 after a 69)

Q: Your thoughts on that 69?
MOLINARI: Yeah, previous starts, my first rounds the last few weeks haven’t been great, so it’s nice to start the week better. Yeah, it was pretty tricky the first few holes. Breeze was up and then it seemed to calm down and then it’s kind of picking up again. I love is this place. It’s a great course. I think it’s a great challenge, especially when the wind is up. So looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. You said recently that you’ve not felt quite yourself since the Masters. You know, unfortunate to miss out there, Tiger Woods ended up winning that one. What have you learnt in that journey from then till now and how close do you feel to being back where you were, because it was an amazing year last year.
MOLINARI: Yeah, the first few months of this season were equally as good. Yeah, I mean, what I was trying to say, really, was it would be silly not to say that the results have been different. Unfortunately, I can’t quite point out the reason why, but yeah, there’s definitely some technical issues I think in the swing that it’s a bit uncharacteristic maybe for me. But I’ve hit some pretty poor shots in the last few months, and so yeah, we are working on it. You know, golf takes time, unfortunately, to figure out what exactly is going wrong. But yeah, in the meantime, I feel like my putting and my chipping are improving. I think there are signs that things are trending in the right direction. I’ve had a few good rounds in the last few weeks. Obviously, yeah, the consistency throughout the week is not quite there yet, and I think that’s down to the misses. If the misses are too bad off the tee, especially, which I’m not used to, I’m not very good at playing out of the rough and bunkers and stuff like that, so I need to get it back in the fairway.