Paul Waring holds on to his lead, with Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy and Thomas Detry dreaming of Dubai.
Here's everything you need to know about the third round of the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi.
Warning hopes to make 'bad golf'
Waring hopes he sees his lead cut into one after his “bad golf”. The 39-year-old shot a course-record 61 on Friday to reach the third round but managed just one birdie in a 73-run unit at YAS Links. He joked after the round: “You've got to have an average day, don't you? I'm a little disappointed – I feel like I could have been unseen, but with four rounds of golf, you're always going to have some holes in one round of golf. If you give me a game-by-game lead at the start of the week, I'm going to give you my hand. I'm trying to stay positive because I'm still on top and looking forward to going out there tomorrow. I wasn't at my best today. Condition, felt a little shaken to be honest. My first few holes I hit a lovely tee shot and three stabs that just put a little bit of a kick in that I didn't recover from at all. It's golf in the sun tomorrow – I'm looking forward to the challenge now and I feel like my bad golf is gone now.”
Detry Targets locations in Dubai
After a stunning 62 in round three, Detry will be hoping for a late surge in next week's DP World Tour Championship. The Belgian enters Week 63 of the Dubai Rankings with Rolex, with only the top 50 entering Jumeirah Golf Links on Sunday night. Rounds of 72 and 68 appeared to leave Detry facing a week off, but he posted ten birdies on a career-low DP World Tour to improve to 14 and boost his chances of a top-50 finish. . “I just played well,” Detry said. “Didn't really miss any drivers. The fairways here are pretty wide, but I held my position the whole round and obviously made a couple of really good ones on my first few holes.” Great putt to keep the momentum going and I keep going. Unfortunately I can't make it to the DP Tour this year and it's amazing to qualify this week. I really want to try to qualify for next week. Giving myself one last last chance to finally go to Dubai and hopefully I can play my best golf again next week there.”
The mixed fortunes of Lowry and McIlroy
Lowry and McIlroy were left with contrasting emotions after the third round. Lowry entered the field with a 66 to start Sunday in three-quarters. McIlroy looked to be in a similar position until he found water on his T-shirt on the 18th and ran a double-turn seven with a 69 to keep him in the middle of the week 13 times. “The first two days, I got off to a real average start,” Lowry said. “So just trying to start better today, and I did that. I kind of kicked it out on the first nine and then on the back nine It's stale. I'm happy with my score. It doesn't seem like the leader is going far. I think I'm going to get into contact distance tomorrow and if I can sack a guy downfield, I can be there or somebody else.” McIlroy admitted that he screamed after taking a shot during the closing ceremony of the second day of the run, which ended in Friday's No. 17 third wave. He said: “Playing the last two holes two days in a row is not ideal. The leader didn't escape, which is good and I'm doing some taking charge. Just a mistake, driving on 18 and playing in the wind It made a lot of sense. Like 17 yesterday, an untimely mistake dug a hole, but based on the work of the leaders I can still go into tomorrow feeling like I have half a chance.”
Tyrrell tortures camera operator
Tyrrell Hatton has fun with the camera crew during the third round of 70.
Yas link bites back
On Thursday, the field total was 244.
On Friday, the field was a collective 232.
On Saturday, the total dropped to 163. It's amazing what a breeze and some tough pins can do.
