What two of Rory McIlroy's rivals are missing that's crucial to his success

Rory McIlroy has been told what sets him apart from some of golf's rising stars after the second round at the DP World Tour Championship. McIlroy shot a three-under-par round of 69 to leave himself on nine-under going into the weekend.

The Northern Irishman is among four other players tied for second place on nine-under par after the second round, alongside Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Daniel Hillier and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. McIlroy is still three shots behind leader Nikolai Hojgaard, who himself recorded a clubhouse lead seven-under-par round of 65 to emerge as the favourite going into the weekend.

McIlroy will be hoping to secure a seventh Race to Dubai title this weekend, having won the season-long honour in each of the last three years. The 36-year-old's nearest challenger for the title is Marco Penge, who is currently on level-par after a two-under-par round of 70 on Friday, which sees him tied-44th going into the weekend.

Ahead of a weekend that could see McIlroy win another Race to Dubai title, former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley has explained why the grand slam winner has the edge over the likes of Penge and Hojgaard.

"For me, Rory wasn't on his game today, and he did unbelievably well to shoot the score that he did," said McGinley on Sky Sports. "It shows you, you talk about the young guys coming through, we talked about (Marco) Penge yesterday, we talked about Nicolai (Hojgaard) today, what are they missing compared to the likes of Rory McIlroy, what we saw from McIlroy is what they're missing. That ability to play poorly, to lose a feel in your swing, and yet still go out and shoot a round of 69 as Rory did..."

"The fact that this is not his day, and he hasn't quite got the feel of the swing, and he just wants to get through, pick off a birdie or two where he can get it, with a round of 69 or so, stay close to the leaders and see what the weekend brings."

"The fact that he still broke 70, managing your bad golf, you don't come out and play as well as you did yesterday every single time, even if you're Rory McIlroy," McGinley added. "The big key, and Scottie Scheffler is a great example of the two, is managing your rounds.

"Jack Nicholas talked about it a lot in his career, managing my bad golf, and he reckons he won about 80% of his tournaments playing poorly! So there is a skill set in doing that, Rory hasn't had that all his career, of course he hasn't, but he is so experienced now, he's able to play as poorly as he did today, still shoot 69, and you know he's going to pick up something over the weekend.

"Yesterday was a Rolls-Royce performance, today was a bit of a Fiesta, a smaller car that was backfiring, but he still managed to get where he needed to get to."