2013 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship leaderboard: Rose leads; Woods, McIlroy both miss cut

Justin Rose has the lead after two rounds at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, but the big news is on the other end of the leaderboard, where Tigers Woods and Rory McIlroy both missed the cut.

Woods was doomed by a two-stroke penalty he took on the fifth hole. When he drive went awry, he believed he was entitled to a relief from an embedded lie. He consulted with playing partner Martin Kaymer, who agreed with him, so he took the free drop. But later on in the day, a rules official ruled that Woods should not have taken the free drop and either had to hit the ball lay or taken a drop and a one-stroke penalty for an unplayable lie. He was assessed a two-stroke penalty and missed the cut by a single stroke.

Penalty aside, it was a bad two rounds for Woods, who hit only 11 of 28 fairways and only 19 of 36 greens. Woods has now missed the cut just nine times in his professional career, but eight of those have come since 2005.

McIlroy didn’t have any similar drama. He just played poorly and followed up his first round 75 with another 75 in the second round to finish at six-over for the tournament, four shots off the cut line.

While the big names were struggling, Rose has no problem in Abu Dhabi. He shot a three-under 69 after Thursday’s five-under 67 and leads Gonzalo Fdez-Castano and Jamie Donaldson by a stroke.

13 players are within four shots of Rose, including Kaymer, Jason Dufner and Henrik Stenson, setting up a tantalizing weekend in Abu Dhabi, where scores are expected to be low in the final two rounds.