GOLF/EUROPEAN TOUR:US OPEN champion Rory McIlroy and Danish veteran Thomas Bjorn sunk late birdies to set the pace at the Dubai Desert Classic yesterday, with the pair 13-under after the second round

Behind them lurked Martin Kaymer – who claimed his first ever hole in one – and a resurgent Lee Westwood as golf’s top guns excelled on another windless day on Dubai’s Majlis course.

McIlroy, Westwood and Kaymer are ranked two, three and four in the world, with only number one Luke Donald absent from the Dubai leaderboard. “This was very stress-free golf – fairways most of the time, a lot of greens and giving myself a lot of looks, so I’m really pleased with how I played today,” McIlroy (22) said.

Yet the Northern Irishman may rue several missed long birdie chances as his putting often failed to match his stellar approach play.

“It could have been better, I missed a putt on the 18th for an eagle, I missed a putt on the first for a birdie that was pretty short,” said McIlroy. “I hit a couple of really good putts on the back nine which could have dropped.”

Germany’s Kaymer, on 11 under, said he would not be satisfied with a leaderboard finish. “The only thing that matters is the trophy – to leave the golf course on Sunday afternoon knowing that you have beaten everyone,” the 2010 US PGA champion said.

“That’s the pure satisfaction. A few players say they want to win, but they don’t want it as much as others. Rory . . . he really wants to win and I’m not coming here to just play four rounds of golf in the sunshine.”

“They are people capable of amazing things, but I won in Switzerland with those three (McIlroy, Kaymer and Westwood) on the leaderboard and that’s not long ago,” said Bjorn. “It’s very easy to get impressed by the way they play the game, but you’ve got to go out and focus on your own game.”

McIlroy started the day on six under, this time playing the back nine first. He teed off from the 10th hole early, a wisp of cloud shrouding the desert sun as Dubai slept yesterday, the Muslim holy day. The back nine in Dubai is kinder than the front nine, with three par-fives and a couple of short par-fours, so he was under pressure to score low early.

MIlroy sank a birdie on the opening hole, playing a chip shot from the rough to be within a few feet of the pin, but at the 11th he came up short with an 18-foot putt that would have earned a second successive birdie. McIlroy then missed a 25-foot eagle chance, but rolled in his next shot to move on to eight under for the tournament.

At two under from seven played, McIlroy seemed frustrated, but on the 17th green he sank a fairway chip to gain a shot and this seemed to lift him as he holed a birdie on the 18th to be 10 under at the turn.

On the front nine, and now cheered on by girlfriend and tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, he bagged three more birdies to score 65 for the round.

Kaymer reached nine under with three holes to play before sinking his debut hole-in-one.

“I talked about it (a hole in one) a lot of times in the past few weeks, because I played with Sergio (Garcia) in Abu Dhabi,” added Kaymer. “I asked him how many do you have and he said ‘eight or nine’. Then Miguel (Jimenez) said he had stopped counting, so I thought at some stage it had to happen.”

Westwood looked off the pace on Thursday and when reaching seven under after 15 holes of the second round. Then he played a nine-iron chipshot on the 16th that rolled back to within a few inches of the pin for a birdie and went on to also pick up shots on the final two holes to end on 10 under.

“I’d like for there to be a bit of breeze to keep it interesting and make a par and a bogey worth something,” the Englishman said.

Overnight leader Rafael Cabrera-Bello, who shot 63 in the first round, ended Friday at 12 under as the Spaniard belied his lowly world ranking of 119.

Offaly man Shane Lowry carded a two-under 70 to move to six under, while Damien McGrane moved up a whooping 89 places to a tie for 27th spot on four under after he matched McIlroy’s 65.

Peter Lawrie (74) and Gareth Maybin (70) are a shot behind McGrane on three under, but Michael Hoey’s tournament is over after a level-par 72 saw him miss the cut by two shots on one over.

(at Emirates GC, Dubai)

Second Round Scores

(Irish in bold, British unless stated)

131 – Rory McIlroy 66 65, T Bjorn (Den) 66 65.

132 – R Cabrera Bello (Spn) 63 69.

133 – G Bourdy (Fra) 66 67, M Kaymer (Ger) 66 67, S Jamieson 65 68.

134 – S Gallacher 69 65, M Siem (Ger) 65 69, L Westwood 69 65.

135 – G Coetzee (SA) 69 66.

136 – T Goya (Arg) 68 68, H Stenson (Swe) 72 64.

137 – S Kjeldsen (Den) 68 69, J Sjoholm (Swe) 71 66, R Wattel (Fra) 66 71, B Curtis (US) 70 67, R Sterne (SA) 66 71.

138 – F Molinari (Ita) 70 68, C Wood 71 67, Shane Lowry 68 70, N Colsaerts (Bel) 66 72, O Floren (Swe) 67 71.

139 – S-yul Noh (Kor) 69 70, R McEvoy 69 70, T Jaidee (Tha) 69 70, N Thompson (USA) 68 71.

140 – JM Singh (Ind) 67 73, Damien McGrane 75 65, R Ramsay 69 71, C Montgomerie 71 69, S Dyson 72 68, J Edfors (Swe) 69 71, A Quiros (Spn) 70 70, D Drysdale 70 70, R Rock 73 67, T Lewis 70 70, F Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 71, G Havret (Fra) 73 67.

141 – P Richardson 70 71, M Wiegele (Aut) 72 69, R Fisher 67 74, S Hansen (Den) 72 69, Gareth Maybin 71 70, M Manassero (Ita) 71 70, P Hedblom (Swe) 70 71, D Lynn 69 72, Peter Lawrie 67 74, B Rumford (Aus) 70 71, P Hanson (Swe) 71 70, P Lawrie 71 70, J Donaldson 74 67, E Molinari (Ita) 69 72.

142 – J Kingston (SA) 72 70, J Luiten (Ned) 69 73, B Grace (SA) 71 71, J Campillo (Spn) 72 70, T Hamilton (US) 71 71, D Willett 71 71, J Kruger (SA) 69 73, T Fleetwood 72 70, A Canizares (Spn) 73 69, B Wiesberger (Aut) 70 72.

143 – F De Vries (Ned) 70 73, R Coles 76 67, J Shepherd 73 70, R Santos (Por) 70 73, S Mcnamara (US) 72 71, J Manuel Lara (Spn) 71 72, P Larrazabal (Spn) 70 73, A Wall 71 72, J Daly (US) 71 72, M O’Meara (US) 69 74, F Colombo (Ita) 74 69, M Fraser (Aus) 74 69, D Howell 69 74, F Couples (US) 70 73, R Gonzalez (Arg) 71 72, MA Jimenez (Spn) 70 73, T Olesen (Den) 70 73, F Zanotti (Par) 71 72, I Garrido (Spn) 72 71.

Following players failed to make cut

144 – M Jonzon (Swe) 73 71, V Dubuisson (Fra) 74 70, P Martin (Spn) 75 69, S Khan 68 76, G Storm 74 70.

145 – R Jan Derksen (Ned) 77 68, G Murray 74 71, S Webster 75 70, M Ilonen (Fin) 75 70, J Van Zyl (SA) 70 75, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 74, L Slattery 71 74, J-M Olazabal (Spn) 71 74, P Uihlein (USA) 75 70, R S Johnson (Swe) 73 72, J Pagunsan (Phi) 71 74, M Warren 74 71, M Foster 75 70, Michael Hoey 73 72.

146 – J-B Gonnet (Fra) 74 72, C Cevaer (Fra) 70 76, J Moul 73 73, A Hansen (Den) 73 73, R Davies 74 72, M Baldwin 72 74, D Denison 72 74, S Micheel (US) 72 74, R Green (Aus) 73 73, L Gagli (Ita) 75 71, B Dredge 71 75.

147 – C Del Moral (Spn) 75 72, C Nilsson (Swe) 72 75, K Horne (SA) 75 72, P Price 75 72, O Fisher 73 74.

148 – P Whiteford 73 75, Ahmed Al Musharrekh (UAE) 76 72, R Finch 73 75, Y El Hassani (Mtq) 74 74, B Hebert (Fra) 71 77, R Bain 72 76.

149 – A Noren (Swe) 71 78, A Pavan (Ita) 71 78, N Fasth (Swe) 74 75, M Zions (Aus) 70 79, D Horsey 76 73, S Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 70 79, J Morrison 76 73.

150 – A Dodt (Aus) 72 78.

151 – F Aguilar (Chi) 75 76, B Lane 77 74.

152 – G Boyd 76 76, M Campbell (Nzl) 81 71, S Little 77 75.

153 – R Canavan 77 76, K Ferrie 80 73.

155 – A Marjan (Mar) 81 74.