Dubai Desert ClassicAt last, fate would appear to be a friend again to Paul McGinley rather than a foe. Yesterday, once the blanket of fog that disrupted the Dubai Desert Classic on each of the first two mornings lifted, albeit grudgingly, the first on-course duty he faced was to hit a four-iron approach of 213 yards in to the 12th green as he set about completing the leftovers of his first round. "Not the easiest of starts," he later admitted.

If that was an unappetising start, little did he know at the time that the shot would be a prelude to a veritable feast. From a starting position of one-over-par, and struggling to stay in the tournament, McGinley - who managed to lure playing partner Mark O'Meara into the same zone - was to enjoy his day in the sun to such an extent that he finished it as tournament leader, the Dubliner contriving to produce 14 birdies in a marathon 25 holes that was anything but a test of endurance.

Indeed, McGinley probably wished that it would never end. "Things just worked out for me, instead of a nine-iron finishing 15 feet behind the pin, it was finishing a foot away," he remarked.

The bottom line was that McGinley birdied five of the seven holes in completing his first round, signing for a 68, and then brought the momentum into the second round where he shot a 65 for 11-under-par 133, giving him a one-shot lead over O'Meara who contrived to shoot the tournament low round of 64.

"Paul hit the ball extremely well, (he) drove it good and hit a list of great iron shots. It's no surprise to see him up there on top of the leaderboard," said O'Meara, using an unconventional claw-like putting grip - which he has christened "The Saw", and quite distinct from "The Claw" used by Mark Calcavecchia and Chris DiMarco and "The Paintbrush" adopted by Craig Stadler and Tim Herron - to finally master the demons which have afflicted him on the greens in recent years.

All in all, it was a good old day for the Irish, apart from Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell, both of whom were left with the unsavoury prospect of returning today to complete their second rounds in the knowledge that some McGinley-like magic would be required to transform their fortunes and enable them to make the cut.

Both stood on four-over-par: Clarke after 11 holes of his second round; McDowell after 15.

For the others, things were much better. Gary Murphy, who adopted his own claw-like grip in the half-hour break he had between finishing his first round and starting his second on the basis that: "I felt I might as well miss with a funky grip as with the same old grip."

He discovered that it worked. He contrived to shoot a round of 67 - which included 26 putts compared to 32 in the first round - to reach the midway stage on six-under-par 138.

There was no rocket science approach to Murphy's decision to change grips. "I was eating a sausage sandwich in the break when I realised I had to do something," said the Kilkenny man, who has actually lost over a stone in weight since Christmas and who is contemplating commencing a regime of gym work.

To help his game?

"No, it has more to do with vanity," he replied.

Yesterday, the highpoint in his second round was hitting a three-iron approach of 229 yards to eight feet on the 13th for an eagle three. Which suggests he possesses enough power without having to start any regime.

Peter Lawrie, meanwhile, had moved to five-under-par for the tournament after 15 holes of his second round, while Padraig Harrington - despite struggling on the greens, taking 31 putts in each round - added a 72 to his opening 69 for three-under-par 141.

"The problem on the greens went all the way through my game, but I am still happy with how I am playing. I'm making life a lot harder, but I know there is 36 holes to go."

And Damien McGrane, who had hovered around the level-par mark for much of the day, grabbed back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th to fire a 70 for two-under-par 142, which should see him safely inside the cut mark which will be determined after the other half of the field complete their second rounds.

McGinley, though, is the one in pole position. Throughout his play yesterday, he showed superb control with his iron shots.

"All along, I knew I was just a little bit of confidence away from playing well," he commented.

Of all the good shots he hit yesterday, one stood out. It came on the 12th hole of his second round where he hit a four-iron approach that was all over the stick. "It was a career shot," he said. "Other days you're 20 feet short even if you are on line, or it is 10 feet past and you have a trick putt back. Today, it was finishing a foot away. A lot of my birdies were kick-ins, they were so close."

O'Meara was obviously inspired by McGinley's endeavours, a fact not lost on Tiger Woods - who shot a second round 68 for five-under-par 139 - who remarked: "I think Mark and Paul just started feeding off each other, that's what usually happens. One guy gets going and the other then gets going and they end up making birdies left and right together." But the chase on McGinley promises to be unrelenting over the weekend. Although O'Meara lurks just a shot adrift, Greg Owen and Brian Davis completed their 36-holes in eight-under while first-round leader Bradley Dredge remained on eight-under after nine holes of his second round. As McGinley knows, better than most, the hard part is to finish off the job; to do that, he'll require some of yesterday's magic to stay with him for the hard part of the task.

Second day completed scores. Par 72.

Irish and British unless stated.

133 - Paul McGinley 68 65.

134 - Mark O'Meara (USA) 70 64.

136 - Greg Owen 71 65, Brian Davis 70 66.

137 - Paul Casey 69 68, Simon Dyson 68 69.

138 - Gary Murphy 71 67.

139 - Colin Montgomerie 70 69, Tiger Woods (USA) 70 69.

140 - Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 70 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Swe) 68 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 70, Kenneth Ferrie 70 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 71.

141 - Padraig Harrington 69 72, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 73 68, Zhang Lian-wei (Chi) 71 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 71.

142 - Anders Hansen (Den) 72 70, Damien McGrane 72 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 72 70, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 69 73.

143 - Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 71, Mark Roe 71 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 74 69, Phillip Price 71 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 74 69, Ben Banks 73 70, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 73 70, Andrew Marshall 72 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 71 72.

144 - Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 74, Paul Broadhurst 70 74, Gary Evans 71 73.

145 - Robert Rock 72 73, Scott Drummond 67 78, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 76 69, David Gilford 72 73.

146 - Peter O'Malley (Aus) 73 73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 74, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 74, Simon Wakefield 72 74, Jamie Spence 73 73.

147 - Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 74 73, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 74 73, Simon Yates 73 74, Sebastien Fernandez (Arg) 73 74, Barry Lane 74 73.

148 - Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 74 74, Ben Mason 76 72.

149 - Ian Woosnam 74 75, Paul Lawrie 74 75, Roger Chapman 73 76, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 77 72, Marten Olander (Swe) 75 74, James Hepworth 73 76, Philip Golding 74 75, Robert Coles 75 74, Yasin Ali 76 73.

150 - Tobias Dier (Ger) 79 71, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 78 72, Matthew Blackey 78 72.

151 - Katsumune Imai (Jpn) 76 75, Julien Clement (Swi) 75 76.

152 - Wayne Westner (Rsa) 74 78.

153 - Costantino Rocca (Ita) 76 77.

157 - Martin Wiegele (Aut) 82 75.

158 - Gordon Brand Jnr 75 83, Ivo Giner (Spa) 82 76.

159 - (x) Tisse Chandradasa (Sri) 80 79.

175 - Ariff Sarji (Mal) 88 87.

Selected others - Darren Clarke: + 4 after 29 holes; Graeme McDowell: + 4 after 33 holes; Peter Lawrie: - 5 after 33 holes