WGC-HSBC Champions: Rory McIlroy in deep water after his lead evaporates

Rory McIlroy reacts after recording another bogey on the 18th (GETTY IMAGES)

A gamble on the last hole backfired on Rory McIlroy as Dustin Johnson stormed into a commanding lead here in the second round of the WGC-HSBC Champions.

McIlroy held a two-shot lead after an impressive 65 in the opening round at Sheshan and went three clear when he followed five straight pars with birdies at the sixth, seventh and eighth yesterday. However, the back nine was a different story as McIlroy bogeyed the 11th after catching the face of a fairway bunker with his escape and dropped another shot on the 15th by failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker.

The 24-year-old scrambled pars on the next two holes before his drive on the par-five 18th stopped a few feet from the lake which runs down the right-hand side of the hole, leaving him 228 yards to the green, all over water. McIlroy had no hesitation in taking the shot on, but saw his second come up several yards short of the green in the hazard. After taking a penalty drop back on to the fairway, he hit a wonderful fourth shot from 250 yards to 15 feet but missed the par putt and signed for a level-par 72. That left the Northern Irishman on seven under and five shots behind Johnson, who had charged through the field with a course record-equalling 63.

“Disappointing, frustrating,” was how McIlroy summed up his round. “I obviously played nicely on the front nine and then started to hit a lot of sloppy shots on the back. I missed the last six greens in a row, seven on the back nine, so a bit of work is needed on the range this afternoon. I hit a couple of bad shots and then I guess I let it affect me a little bit and then I started to doubt myself sometimes. I didn’t hit a lot of quality shots on the back nine.

“It would have been nice to start tomorrow with a few more shots in hand but I guess I’m in a decent position going into the weekend, and still have a great chance at winning this tournament.”

Johnson, who was four shots behind McIlroy after an opening 69, birdied six of his first seven holes, his only par coming on the third, and narrowly missed further birdie chances on the eighth and ninth to be out in 30. The big-hitting American then dropped his first shot of the day after missing the green on the 10th, but responded with birdies on the 13th, 14th, 16th and 18th.

McIlroy shared second place with Bubba Watson and Boo Weekley, the Americans recording rounds of 69 and 67 respectively. Six players are a shot behind on six under, defending champion Ian Poulter carding a 67 to join fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano – winner of the BMW Masters on Sunday – Ernie Els and Graeme McDowell in fifth place.

US Open champion Justin Rose and Open champion Phil Mickelson are among a seven-strong group on five under. Mickelson, who took nine on his penultimate hole on Thursday in an opening 71, birdied five of his last six holes in his 68, dropping a shot on the reachable par-four 16th after hooking his tee shot into the water.

Rose’s water trouble came on the last, the world No 5 thinning a bunker shot across the green and into the hazard on his way to a closing bogey and a round of 71.