DUBAI (Reuters) – Veteran Dane Thomas Bjorn was 14 under at the turn of the third round of the Dubai Desert Classic Saturday, one-shot ahead of playing partner Rory McIlroy and with a resurgent Lee Westwood in fierce pursuit.

Bjorn, 40, and U.S. Open champion McIlroy began the day 13 under after rattling in a succession of birdies in near-perfect conditions on the first two rounds.

Saturday was a different story, however, as offshore gusts buffeted the Majlis course and temperatures topped 30 degrees Celsius, making it tough for the leading trio as they teed off under a searing midday sun.

By the turn, Bjorn was one under for the round, having squandered a two-foot birdie chance on the ninth green, while McIlroy, 22, was on par.

It could have been worse for the Ulsterman. Normally so strong on this long game, the world number two missed the fairway from the tee on four of the opening nine holes, most calamitously on the seventh when his drive cleared the lake but then rolled back into the water for a penalty shot.

He made partial amends, staying calm to sink a 20-foot putt down the slope to escape with a bogey.

But Bjorn, who had bogeyed the fifth, took full advantage, tapping in a five-foot birdie putt for a two-shot swing to reclaim the lead.

DUBAI, Feb 10 (Reuters) – U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy and Danish veteran Thomas Bjorn sunk late birdies to set the pace at the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday, with the pair 13-under after the second round.

Behind them lurked Martin Kaymer – who claimed his first ever hole in one – and a resurgent Lee Westwood as golf’s top guns excelled on another windless day on Dubai’s Majlis course.

McIlroy, Westwood and Kaymer are ranked two, three and four in the world, with only number one Luke Donald absent from the Dubai leaderboard.

“This was very stress-free golf – fairways most of the time, a lot of greens and giving myself a lot of looks, so I’m really pleased with how I played today,” McIlroy, 22, told reporters.

Yet the Northern Irishman may rue several missed long birdie chances as his putting often failed to match his stellar approach play.

“It could have been better, I missed a putt on the 18th for an eagle, I missed a putt on the first for a birdie that was pretty short,” said McIlroy. “I hit a couple of really good putts on the back nine which could have dropped.”

Germany’s Kaymer, on 11-under, said he would not be satisfied with a leaderboard finish.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Rory McIlroy sank seven birdies to be 13 under par after the second round of the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday, two shots ahead of Martin Kaymer, who hit his first hole-in-one.

Surprise overnight leader Rafael Cabrera-Bello had yet to tee off.

McIlroy may, however, rue a succession of missed long birdie chances as his putting often failed to match his long game.

“I definitely think it could have been better than 65, I missed a putt on the 18th for an eagle, I missed a putt on the first for a birdie that was pretty short,” McIlroy, 22, told reporters. “I hit a couple of really good putts on the back nine this morning which could have dropped (in).”

The slight Ulsterman started the day on six under, but this time he played the back nine first and was paired with England’s Robert Rock, surprise winner of January’s Abu Dhabi championship, and Dubai defending champion Alvaro Quiros.

The trio teed off from the 10th hole early, a wisp of cloud shrouding the desert sun as Dubai slept on Friday, the Muslim holy day.

The back nine of the Majlis course is kinder than the front nine, with three par-fives and a couple of short par-fours, so the players were under pressure to score low early, especially after Carrera-Bello had ended the first round on nine under.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Rory McIlroy called on caddy J.P Fitzgerald to help him sink six birdies on the back nine in the opening round of the Dubai Desert Classic on Thursday to finish six under and three shots behind surprise leader Rafael Cabrera-Bello.

World number two McIlroy, playing the afternoon round, was one over after seven holes, but then turned to fellow-Ulsterman Fitzgerald to judge the greens.

“I started to get J.P. to read the putts with me on the back nine, which helped – I’m finding these greens very difficult to read this year because there is so much more grain on them than usual,” McIlroy told reporters at Dubai’s Majlis course.

“Sometimes you see a lot more of the putt from a side view, so it’s good to get a second opinion, especially on greens like this where sometimes the grain isn’t that obvious from behind the ball.”

McIlroy, 22, was one of only three players on the 10-man leaderboard to play in the afternoon, after Cabrera-Bello had thrived on a brilliant, windless morning to shoot nine under.

“It’s the first day so you shouldn’t really be thinking about scores posted on the leaderboard,” said McIlroy. “But of course you see nine under on the board early and you’re thinking you have to get off to a fast start, not fall too far behind.”

The back nine in Dubai are kinder, with three par-fives and a couple of short par-fours.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Rafael Cabrera-Bello was the early pace-setter in the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic golf Thursday, ending on nine under par after sinking seven birdies in his opening nine holes.

Tournament favorite Rory McIlroy was on par after three holes, while world number two Lee Westwood finished on three under.

Cabrera-Bello, 27, belied his lowly world ranking of 119 and looked poised to challenge Ernie Els’s record 11 under at the Majlis course after surging to nine under with 11 holes played, but the Spaniard found the final seven tougher going, holing all of them for par.

Cabrera-Bello was joined on the leaderboard by German Marcel Siem and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson, who both shot seven under.

Siem blotted his copybook with a bogey on the par-five 18th, while Jamieson bagged two birdies and an eagle on his final six holes.

Thomas Bjorn, a Classic winner in 2011, was tied for fourth on six under.

“I played well today, anytime you shoot 66 on any golf course you have to be happy,” the Dane told Reuters.

DUBAI (Reuters) – World number two Rory McIlroy said a more mature approach to his game can help him add to his trophy haul when he makes his seventh straight appearance at the Dubai Desert Classic Thursday.

McIlroy, 22, first appeared at the Dubai tournament as a precocious 16-year-old in 2006 and won the event in 2009 for his first European Tour win.

The Briton then bounced back from an agonizing near-miss at last year’s U.S. Masters to romp to a record eight-shot triumph at the U.S. Open.

“I feel like I’ve definitely matured a lot this past year as a golfer and probably just as a person as well,” Northern Irishman McIlory told reporters Wednesday at the Majlis course in Dubai.

“I feel like I can play more controlled golf when I need to. When you’re not playing as well, you need to know your limitations, reel it back in a little bit and play the percentages a bit more.”

This approach worked for McIlroy at January’s Abu Dhabi Championship where only a two-stroke penalty denied him victory.

“I don’t feel like the golf that I played in Abu Dhabi deserved to win,” said McIlory.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, one of the hottest young prospects on the European Tour, believes the achievements of world number two Rory McIlroy can inspire him to a breakthrough first victory.

Olesen, who turned 22 in December, finished 48th on the money-list in his rookie season last year.

He then came charging out of the blocks at the start of the 2012 campaign, finishing eighth in a strong field including McIlroy, world number one Luke Donald, third-ranked Lee Westwood and number four Martin Kaymer at last month’s Abu Dhabi Championship.

Olesen found last week’s Qatar Masters harder going in the high winds of Doha, ending up in 59th place.

“My main goal is to win my first tournament,” he told Reuters in an interview ahead of this week’s Dubai Desert Classic. “Every tournament I’m trying to be there on the Sunday and at least have the opportunity to win.

“I think what Rory has done is incredible. He’s a great player and it helps us young guys to see it’s possible to go out there and win the big tournaments.”

Briton McIlroy, 22, bounced back from an agonising near-miss at last year’s U.S. Masters by romping to a record eight-shot triumph at the U.S. Open.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Lee Westwood was forced to apologize after his mum caught him swearing on live television at last week’s Qatar Masters, the world number three said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred during the 38-year-old Briton’s closing 69 Sunday, a round that left him in a tie for 12th place behind tournament winner Paul Lawrie who finished on 15-under-par.

“My mum was the first person on the phone and she said you might want to apologize,” Westwood told reporters ahead of this week’s Dubai Desert Classic.

“I didn’t think that down at four-under-par I would be on TV. It’s amazing how sensitive these microphones are.”

After the conversation with his mum, Westwood issued an immediate apology on his Twitter account.

“Sorry about swearing on the 16th tee. Came off like a rocket and thought it was going further! Wash my mouth out! Perils of live tv!,” he wrote.

Westwood, who also finished in a tie for 17th at the Abu Dhabi Championship two weeks ago, said he had mixed feelings about his early-season form.

DUBAI (Reuters) – European Tour officials are keen to launch a second ‘Desert Swing’ in the future, tournament committee chairman Thomas Bjorn said on Tuesday.

This week’s Dubai Desert Classic represents the final leg of the tour’s annual three-week stint in the Middle East that also takes in the Abu Dhabi Championship and the Qatar Masters.

Bjorn told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that senior officials also wanted to branch out to other Gulf states in the coming years.

“We hope places like Oman and Kuwait and maybe Saudi Arabia can also be hosts of European Tour events,” said the 40-year-old Dane.

“That would be the tour’s dream, that we could have an extended tour in the Middle East maybe two times a year … preferably have a swing at the beginning of the year and a swing at the end of the year.”

The Dubai Classic is the oldest of the three existing tournaments, having started in 1989.

“Abu Dhabi at the moment probably gets the strongest field but this event in Dubai has the history,” said Bjorn.

DUBAI (Reuters) – European Tour officials are keen to launch a second ‘Desert Swing’ in the future, tournament committee chairman Thomas Bjorn said on Tuesday.

This week’s Dubai Desert Classic represents the final leg of the tour’s annual three-week stint in the Middle East that also takes in the Abu Dhabi Championship and the Qatar Masters.

Bjorn told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that senior officials also wanted to branch out to other Gulf states in the coming years.

“We hope places like Oman and Kuwait and maybe Saudi Arabia can also be hosts of European Tour events,” said the 40-year-old Dane.

“That would be the tour’s dream, that we could have an extended tour in the Middle East maybe two times a year … preferably have a swing at the beginning of the year and a swing at the end of the year.”

The Dubai Classic is the oldest of the three existing tournaments, having started in 1989.

“Abu Dhabi at the moment probably gets the strongest field but this event in Dubai has the history,” said Bjorn.