Tom McKibbin was singing the praise of the Odyssey Jailbird putter in finding himself the leading Irishman after two rounds of the season-opening Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
McKibbin, 22, birdied four of his last eight holes for a round of 69 to climb into a share of 15th place on five-under-par and seven shots off the halfway pace set by Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson.
Dubai resident Ferguson brilliantly ended his round birdie, eagle in a score of 65 to move to 12-under and one clear of Kiwi Daniel Hillier who also posted a 65 to be at 11-under.
Sings praise @tommckibbin8 @teamjmcsport of @odysseygolf ‘Jailbird’ putter
After @CallawayGolfEU @CallawayTour ️♂️ birdies four of his 8 closing holes on day two @DubaiDCGolf @EmiratesGC #RolexSeries
Read: https://t.co/NdtzGgjLub
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— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) January 17, 2025
Back-to-back Dubai winning Rory McIlroy continued to struggle adding a 71 to his opening 70 to be sharing 33rd place at three-under while Padraig Harrington, and the third Irishman in this week’s Dubai field missed the level par cut-off mark with scores of 70 and 75.
The strong key to the quietly-spoken McMcKibbon’s strong 36-hole showing over the host Emirates course has been a new putter – an Odyssey Jailbird putter
McKibbin put the ‘Jailbird’ into great use with birdie putts at the first and 11th holes, and for a second day running, along with birdies at the 13th and 15th holes which he has now also birdied the 18th in both rounds
“It’s always nice to finish with a birdie though it was very stressful around the front nine but I managed to grab a few birdies on the back nine”, he said.
“When I mean stressful, it’s a tough golf course while it was a litle bit windier today, and with some of those fairways out there very tricky to then find the greens.
“Then when you do find the greens, you’re normally quite a far from the pins.
“I had a new putter in the bag this week and that helped immensely. I felt I putted well in last week’s Team Cup but then I tried the new Jailbird putter in coming here to the Desert Classic and it felt so good, I stuck with it.
“I have putted really, really nice the last two days and with a lot of good putts going in and even the putts I’ve just missed I’ve been pleased.
“So now looking very much forward to the weekend. I think the course will get harder and harder.
“I feel if I can keep playing the way I am and to shoot another couple of under par rounds would be nice”.
As well, after his debut in last week’s Team Cup the present World No. 97 was pleased also to get a scorecard back into his hand.
“It was great to have been picked to play last week in Abu Dhabi that included four rounds of golf in three days, and to get that competitive feeling after a good few weeks off”, he added.
“It was definitely a benefit coming here to Dubai this week to have last week knocked a lot of rust off the game.”
