Eugenio Chacarra battled to a one-under-par 71 at the Earth Course on Friday to keep his hopes of winning the Race to Dubai alive, and he believes he can mount a comeback and push Rory McIlroy all the way

DUBAI — Eugenio Chacarra still has his sights set on winning the DP World Tour Championship despite giving Rory McIlroy a big head start in the Race to Dubai finale.

McIlroy put the foot on the gas in Friday's second round to climb to the top of the leaderboard at six under par with five holes to play on his back nine. A victory at the Earth Course would secure an eighth Race to Dubai title and match Colin Montgomerie's all-time record.

Chacarra, three times a winner this year, entered the week atop DP World Tour's season rankings, but he has been battling with himself — and the tricky conditions — at the Earth Course. He salvaged a one-under-par 71 on Friday thanks to a pair of late birdies.

Conditions at Jumeirah Golf Estates are as tough as many players here have seen over the years, with stiff winds and dry, dusty turf providing a difficult test. It means scoring is not as strong as usual, and the field is relatively bunched, with Chacarra climbing into the top 15.4

If he can clean things up, the Spaniard believes he can reel McIlroy in over the weekend. "My good's good, but I'm making too many mistakes, and I have not been able to get the momentum going," he said.

"I made a bomb on the par-3 13th, and I hit a good driver on 14, kind of like getting momentum, and I hit the worst shot of the week from nowhere. It's kind of been the week.

"I still have two days. I'm happy with that finish I needed. Only six back. Hopefully Rory can have that good of a back nine, and I still have a chance to win the tournament.

"I can control what I can control. If Rory comes here and wins the tournament, he's a deserved champion. There's nothing I can really do. I'm going to try to win the tournament. As of right now, I'm six shots back. The wind is kind of pumping. It's not easy out there. Hopefully they don't go really, really low. And, I mean, six shots on a weekend, it's not a lot."

Chacarra has been particularly annoyed with his putting, rueing a handful of three-putts through 36 holes. In mitigation, these greens are very dry and slippery, but if the wind continues to blow at 20mph, the 26-year-old knows he needs to up his game with the flat stick.

"My good is good because I made 10 birdies in two days. That's a lot with these conditions, but I'm making too many mistakes, too many silly bogeys. To beat the best players in the world, you can't really do that.

"I have four or five three-putts in two rounds. With these conditions, you're going to have lag putts and some struggles with reading the greens. The hair on the greens and the speed are not the best.

"I need to kind of sharpen the lag putting and those putts to be able to have a chance over the next couple of days."