Rory McIlroy's golf balls were up the creek - Dubai Creek - without a paddle as he stuck four of them in the water during a difficult second round on Friday.
McIlroy followed an opening 66 with an error-strewn 74 to drop out of the lead at the Dubai Invitational - where playing partner and best buddy Shane Lowry now shares the lead after shooting 68.
It was a much tougher day in Dubai due to the blustery winds blowing down around the UAE, resulting in McIlroy becoming all too familiar with taking a penalty drop, needing four of them - and only narrowly avoided making it five as he had to play a shot from the rocks at 18.
Three of McIlroy's four visits to the water cost him a bogey, but he scrambled pretty well and made some big putts to limit the damage to just three over as he slipped back into a tie for fifth.
It was an even tougher day at the office for Dubai resident Tommy Fleetwood, who shot 78 in what was his first round without a birdie or eagle since last year's PGA Championship.
McIlroy first hit the water on the sixth hole, costing him a shot, before finding the soup again on back-to-back holes at the 13th and 14th.
With 13 being a par five he managed to save his par, but he had no such luck on 14 as he made his third bogey of the day.
After rolling in a huge putt on 16 for just his second birdie, he found the water again on 17 but made a brilliant second-ball birdie to drop just one shot.
Amazingly he almost got wet again on 18 when his approach shot to the green landed in the rocks guarding the water, which even after a brilliant recovery saw him finish the day with back-to-back dropped shots.
That saw the Northern Irishman drop from five under at the start of the day to two under at the close - but still just three strokes off leaders Lowry and Nacho Elvira.
Lowry managed to handle the tough conditions much better, with five birdies and just two bogeys in his three-under round of 68 to give him a share of the lead.
"Very happy. It was hard. It was tricky," Lowry said. "If I play golf like that for the rest of the season in that frame of mind, I'll be pretty good.
"The first tournament of the year you don't know what to expect. So going out there in the last group now on Saturday is nice, and keep it going and we'll see what happens."
Elvira also shot 68 to join Lowry at the top of the leaderboard, with Marcus Armitage and David Puig in a tie for third.
Puig described his day as "one of the weirdest rounds of my life" as he made two triple bogeys on his front nine before storming back to go four under coming home.
His trouble included taking three to get out of a greenside bunker and overshooting the green after hitting three off the tee following a trip out of bounds.
Angel Ayora, one of our young stars to watch in 2026, is right there at two under after an eventful round that contained two birdies, two bogeys and eagle and a triple bogey.
The silky swinging 21-year-old is in a fie for fifth just three shots off the pace heading into the weekend.
