Bristol's Chris Wood experienced the down side of golf yesterday as he slipped back into the pack at the Dubai World Championships.

After carding a six-under par 66 for his first round on Thursday, Wood signed for a six over-par 78 to leave him in tied 39th place.

All his first day's good work was undone with a triple, a double and five bogeys in a day the 21-year-old will want to forget.

In blustery conditions, Wood's round didn't start too badly when he birdied the second and third holes after an initial dropped shot at the first.

But things started going wrong from the sixth where he dropped another shot and he was level par for the round with another bogey at the seventh.

The wheels came off at the eighth where he took six shots at the par four hole.

Two further shots went at the 10th and 12th holes and, while a birdie at the fifteenth relieved some of the pressure, Wood recorded a triple bogey seven at the final hole to end the day level par for the championship.

Compatriot Lee Westwood leads by two shots on nine under par at the halfway stage after a second round 69, but only thanks to dramatic mistakes by current Order of Merit leader Rory McIlroy and then Padraig Harrington.

McIlroy, who started the day two behind Westwood and three shy of overnight leader Stuart Appleby's total of seven under par, had led by two after a riotous front nine 31, but three-putted the 14th and 15th in coming home in 38.

That left Harrington ahead on nine under, but he fired two balls into the water on the 620 yard par five 18th hole at the Greg Norman-designed course.

The three-time Major winner had to settle for a double bogey seven as Westwood then rolled in a long birdie putt on the same hole shortly afterwards to extend his lead heading into the final two rounds.

Westwood said: "I'm delighted with 69. It was certainly much harder than yesterday with the wind blowing. Some days you struggle to get things going, the birdies don't quite come so freely and you have to just dig in there and just grind it out for a while.

"It was a case of patience being a virtue, and all good things come to those who wait. The last hole was playing tough, but it's always nice to finish with a birdie, it makes dinner taste sweeter."

McIlroy – who currently leads Westwood in The Race to Dubai standings by £128,000 – now shares second sport with Harrington, Ross McGowan, Camilo Villegas, Louis Oosthuizen and Allenby.

McIlroy, who started the day two behind Westwood and three shy of overnight leader Appleby's total of seven-under-par, had originally threatened to romp away after his front nine. "It was a perfect way to start to get myself right back on top of the leaderboard," McIlroy said.

"I felt as if I played the back nine okay, just those couple of short putts on 14 and 15.

"The most disappointing thing was 14 and 15 are birdie holes and to bogey them, you are sort of losing three strokes.

"But I'm still in a good position and I'm positive going into the weekend."