Rory McIlroy says he is only focused on his own game despite reaching the Dubai Desert Classic halfway level with his American rival Patrick Reed.
The two big winners are eight under par, two shots off the lead, jointly held by Englishman Richard Bland (67), Belgian Thomas Pieters (67) and American amateur Michael Thorbjornsen (64).
Northern Irishman McIlroy will play in the group immediately behind Reed in Sunday’s third round at Emirates Golf Club.
“I focus on myself when I’m there,” McIlroy told BBC Sport when asked if he could play alongside Reed for the rest of this tournament in the rain, which ends. Monday.
Each player posted a two-under 70 in the delayed second round, with McIlroy saying his game still has a lot of rust having not played competitively over the past month.
“I have to settle my game, that’s what I think,” he said. “I have to go to the shooting range and sort out my tee shots to give myself a chance over the next two days.”
Having missed numerous tee shots to the right in his opening 66, McIlroy only hit two fairways with his shots flying to the left for much of his second round.
“I had three holes that literally glossed over everything else. It wasn’t great,” he said.
“Obviously it’s the start of the year, the first tournament back, so I’m trying to figure something out, get an idea over the next few days and see if I can work things out. “
Reed teeed off in the direction of McIlroy when the world number one overshadowed his American rival’s approach to the range earlier this week, and accused the Northern Irishman of behaving “like a child”.
McIlroy was furious at receiving a subpoena from Reed’s lawyer on Christmas Eve and said the 2018 Masters winner, who is a member of the breakaway LIV Tour, was “not living in reality”.
Bland says he has no further motivation to claim a victory on the DP World Tour despite now also being a member of the Saudi-funded LIV circuit. “I’m not trying to pass one off on the guys who are here,” he told BBC Sport.
“I have a lot of good friends here and a lot of them have shown their support,” added the 49-year-old, who along with McIlroy lost in a play-off to Viktor Hovland at this event last year.
“I’m just here to give my best and hopefully give myself a chance to do better on Sunday than I did last year.
“I’m not here to make enemies with the comments I make. If other people want to comment, that’s up to them.”
Scotland’s Connor Syme went to nine under with six birdies in a fine 67, while Wakefield’s Dan Bradbury, recent Joburg Open winnercarded the lowest round of the day, a 63 that took him into the group at eight under.
“I can’t really complain,” said the 23-year-old Yorkshireman. “Here, playing great golf courses, great grounds.
“I was going down nine, my last hole, Rory is just getting started and I can barely see them. So it’s kind of weird watching that.”
Bradbury can now look forward to playing alongside McElroy in the third round, along with fellow LIV rookie Bernd Wiesberger. They are among 14 players within two headed shots at the halfway mark.
Former Open champion Shane Lowry was among those who missed the cut after suffering a quadrupole bogey seven-by-three sevens in a disappointing 75.
