Sullivan leads in Abu Dhabi, impresses Clarke again

Sitting at five-under are 10 players, Matthew Fitzpatrick (England), Trevor Fisher Jnr (South Africa), Ian Poulter (England), David Horsey (England), Matthew Baldwin (England), Richie Ramsay (Scotland), Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay), who have all finished their second rounds, while still out on the course in the morning playing catch up are Rickie Fowler (US), Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Richard Kaymer (Germany) and Hun Byeong An (South Korea).

A year earlier, McIlroy launched his bid for the US Masters, the only major he has yet to win, but instead of sealing a career grand slam he saw Spieth, 22, take both the Augusta title and later the world number one ranking.

On Thursday, Jordan Spieth said there were parts of his game he needed to clean up, while Rory McIlroy appeared to be in major-season form.

“I’ve used that momentum from last week and that was just a little taster of what the Ryder Cup would be like. It’s just lucky he’s the Ryder Cup captain”.

“Darren knows what I can do so I don’t think it was imperative (to play well here), but it bodes well when you do”.

Clarke has acted as a mentor to Sullivan since the latter turned professional in 2011, so they are close. “‘I have missed the cut here the last two years so it was nice to get a good round in early”.

” He is playing beautifully, really nicely”, Clarke said after a 70 left him on the projected cut mark of one under.

” He is a quality ball striker”. “I felt in practice last week I was swinging well and I came back mentally fresh and excited to play again”. He’s a proper shot-maker.

“There’ve been times where it’s taken me at least four or five days to find the middle of the clubface (after a break) and there’ve been times where it’s taken me a couple of hours”, McIlroy said.

“He’s got 60 on his ball and, on the first tee, I said I didn’t realize you put your age on the ball”, Sullivan said, laughing.

“I’m trying to analyse and understand each and every aspect of the golf course and the way I played”.

McIlroy started his round with eight straight pars before a bogey on the ninth, where his pushed drive finished in rocks on the edge of a lake.

For Spieth – who was 2 over par through 13 holes when play was suspended because of darkness and had dropped into a tie for 26 place – it was a continuation of his opening-day performance as the world No. 1 struggled with his ball striking (he hit just four of seven fairways in his opening nine holes) and didn’t convert the crucial putts that have become his trademark.