Golf-Young Dane Olesen tops strong Abu Dhabi leaderboard

ABU DHABI Jan 27 (Reuters) - Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen, one of the European Tour's hot young prospects, sprinted to the top of a high-class leaderboard midway through the second round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday.

The 22-year-old was dreaming of a maiden victory after stringing together seven birdies in the first 12 holes on the way to a five-under-par 67 that gave him a seven-under total of 137.

Early starter Olesen was two shots ahead of British pair Paul Lawrie (69) and Robert Rock (70) and Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (71) on another sun-soaked day at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

"It was a bit of a shame to finish with a bogey six at the last but overall I played really well," Olesen told Sky Sports.

"It's really difficult out there, when you hit it in the rough it's tough to get out. You really have to hit it in the fairway to get it close to the hole," added the Dane who had three second-place finishes in his rookie campaign last season.

Triple major winner Padraig Harrington enjoyed a welcome return to form, shooting a 69 to join Spanish duo Sergio Garcia (69) and Jose Manuel Lara (70), U.S. Masters champion Charl Schwartzel (70) and Briton Richie Ramsay (71) on 140.

Harrington, without a European Tour win since 2008, started his round at the 10th hole and the highlight was a run of four birdies in a row from the first.

"I rolled the ball really nicely on the greens out there," said the 40-year-old Irishman. "Nearly every putt I took I gave the hole a scare.

"I've been saying for a while I'm confident my game is coming back but I saw some great signs today. I made some quality strikes on a lot of shots."

Lee Westwood, ranked second in the world, found it tough to cope with a niggling neck injury and could only manage a 72 for 144, level par.

World number one Luke Donald, 14-times major winner Tiger Woods and third-ranked Rory McIlroy were among the late starters.

Germany's Martin Kaymer, winner here three of the past four years, will miss the cut after the world number four carded a 73 for 150. (Writing by Tony Jimenez in London, editing by Alastair Himmer; To comment on this story: sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)