Tyrrell Hatton, with the ink perhaps still not quite dry on his renewed contract with Ping, has taken a five-shot lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in the United Arab Emirates, the first event on the 2021 European Tour schedule.
Hatton is 12 under and leads a group of four golfers each 7 shots back. But Hatton is only through 13 holes in his second round, which was suspended due to “fading light.” The round will continue at 7:30 a.m. local time on Saturday.
Only Rory McIlroy’s opening-round 64 topped Hatton’s 65 on Thursday, but while Hatton was going low again on Friday, McIlroy was 1 over through 14 holes.
Jason Scrivener, Jazz Janewattananond and Romain Langasque join McIlroy in that second-place tie.
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship: Leaderboard
There are ten golfers at 6 under, six shots back of the lead, including Tommy Fleetwood, who has posted rounds of 71-67 so far. Also in that group is Matt Wallace and Rafa Cabrera Bello.
Meanwhile, Justin Thomas is tied for 48th after two days. He opened with a 1-over 73 but got it going on Friday. He’s at 2 under through 14 holes in the second round.
Hatton is the defending champion of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which announced this week that it will allow 25 percent capacity of fans at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge. That win was his first PGA Tour victory. This weekend, Hatton will be chasing his sixth European Tour win.
