Rory McIlroy battles his game and the wind on brutal day in the desert

Rory McIlroy’s self-analysis said it all. “I have absolutely no idea,” replied the world No 8 when asked about the state of his game following a second-round 75 at the Abu Dhabi Championship. A converted birdie putt at the 18th should, barring something extraordinary from those due to finish round two on Saturday morning, be enough to afford him another 36 holes to assess.

This was a curiously brutal desert day. Winds whipped consistently at 20mph and gusted at close to double that. The challenge was not at all what McIlroy and friends had in mind when opting to begin their competitive year at Yas Links. The scene was far from everyone’s cup of tea. “An absolute joke. Ridiculous,” barked Colin Montgomerie as he marched towards his penultimate tee. Either Monty was railing against course condition or a sand ant had moved at an inappropriate moment as he played the previous hole.

McIlroy was more pragmatic – the course at no point appeared unplayable – but acknowledged a weird afternoon at the office. “It’s different,” McIlroy said. “I can’t remember when it’s been like this here. I played in a couple of sandstorms in Dubai and a couple of mornings it’s been cold in Abu Dhabi but nothing like this.

“I have played as thought-free as possible and played the conditions with the shots that I needed to play. I thought I drove it all right. A couple of iron shots got away from me but apart from that, I didn’t feel like I did all that badly. I think my sort of lost shots have been around the greens mostly the last couple days.”

At plus three, McIlroy is 10 shots from the lead held by Scott Jamieson, who added a 74 to day one’s stunning 63. “It’s windier than Scotland,” smiled the Glaswegian. “It was cold today, as well. This