Simon Dyson par for course in Abu Dhabi (From York Press)

Simon Dyson par for course in Abu Dhabi

10:00am Saturday 28th January 2012 in Sport By Tony Kelly , Deputy sports editor

PEGGED on the level was how York-born lord of the swing Simon Dyson was poised going into today’s third round of the Abu Dhabi Championships.

The world golf number 28 posted a second successive even-par round of 72 in the United Arab Emirates.

But the repeat of his first-day feat left him further off the pace with the margin between the 34-year-old Dyson and the top of the leaderboard – jointly occupied by Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen – being seven shots.

For the second day on the spin the Abu Dhabi course yielded as many birdies as bogeys for the Malton & Norton Golf Club ace.

Whereas he had five of each in his opening round, Dyson had four apiece yesterday, once again finding the outward nine more to his liking.

Birdies arrived at the par-five second, as in his first round, and also at the par-four fifth.

But that promising start unravelled on the very next hole and further bogeys were accrued by Dyson on the tenth and 14th holes to put him in arrears.

With the projected cut being two-over it was a dangerous scenario, but then Dyson produced a strong finish.

Though he suffered another dropped shot on the 17th, either side of that hole were valuable birdies on the par-four 16th and the par-five 18th, the latter being birdied by the York ace for the second consecutive day.

There was a hefty slice of anguish for Rory McIlroy when he incurred a careless two-stroke penalty to put a big dent in his title hopes.

Joint top overnight with Karlsson, the US Open champion had come back from a shaky start with three birdies when his rules blunder came on the 456-yard ninth.

Just off the green in two, McIlroy made the mistake of brushing away sand that was not on the putting surface and the penalty was imposed after a referee had been called.